Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call

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From	Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.python
Subject	Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call
Date	Thu, 3 Jan 2013 23:25:51 +0000 (UTC)
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I've written a small assembler in Python 2.[67], and it needs to
evaluate integer-valued arithmetic expressions in the context of a
symbol table that defines integer values for a set of names.  The
"right" thing is probably an expression parser/evaluator using ast,
but it looked like that would take more code that the rest of the
assembler combined, and I've got other higher-priority tasks to get
back to.

How badly am I deluding myself with the code below?

def lessDangerousEval(expr):
    global symbolTable
    if 'import' in expr:
        raise ParseError("operand expressions are not allowed to contain the string 'import'")
    globals = {'__builtins__': None}
    locals  = symbolTable
    return eval(expr, globals, locals)

I can guarantee that symbolTable is a dict that maps a set of string
symbol names to integer values.

-- 
Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! -- I have seen the
                                  at               FUN --
                              gmail.com

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Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-01-03 23:25 +0000
  Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2013-01-03 19:11 -0600
    Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-01-04 02:34 +0000
  Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-01-04 07:47 +0000
    Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-01-04 15:53 +0000
      Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Michael Torrie <torriem@gmail.com> - 2013-01-04 09:05 -0700
        Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-01-04 16:16 +0000
      Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Oscar Benjamin <oscar.j.benjamin@gmail.com> - 2013-01-05 15:56 +0000
        Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-01-06 15:12 +0000
          Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Oscar Benjamin <oscar.j.benjamin@gmail.com> - 2013-01-07 00:08 +0000
      Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-01-06 03:01 +1100
      Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Oscar Benjamin <oscar.j.benjamin@gmail.com> - 2013-01-05 16:17 +0000
        Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call matt.newville@gmail.com - 2013-01-05 08:40 -0800
        Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call matt.newville@gmail.com - 2013-01-05 08:40 -0800
    Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-01-04 16:38 +0000
      Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-01-05 03:51 +1100
        Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-01-04 17:14 +0000
          Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-01-05 04:21 +1100
            Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-01-04 18:09 +0000
              Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-01-05 05:23 +1100
                Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-01-04 18:43 +0000
                Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-01-05 06:02 +1100
  Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Chris Rebert <clp2@rebertia.com> - 2013-01-03 23:50 -0800
  Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2013-01-04 07:24 -0500
    Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-01-04 13:33 +0000
      Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-01-04 15:59 +0000
      Re: Yet another attempt at a safe eval() call Alister <alister.ware@ntlworld.com> - 2013-01-04 18:13 +0000

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