Eval (was Re: Question about using python as a scripting language)

[Brendon Towle]

Slawomir Nowaczyk noted: #> Heck, whenever *is* it OK to use eval() then? eval is like optimisation. There are two rules: Rule 1: Do not use it. Rule 2 (for experts only): Do not use it (yet). So, that brings up a question I have. I have some code that goes out to a website, grabs stock data, and sends out some reports based on the data. Turns out that the website in question stores its data in the format of a Python list (http://quotes.nasdaq.com/quote.dll?page=nasdaq100, search the source for "var table_body"). So, the part of my code that extracts the data looks something like this:     START_MARKER = 'var table_body = '     END_MARKER = '];'     def extractStockData(data):     pos1 = data.find(START_MARKER)     pos2 = data.find(END_MARKER, pos1)     return eval(data[pos1+len(START_MARKER):END_MARKER]) (I may have an off-by-one error in there somewhere -- this is from memory, and the code actually works.) My question is: what's the safe way to do this? B. -- Brendon Towle, PhD Cognitive Scientist +1-412-690-2442x127 Carnegie Learning, Inc. The Cognitive Tutor Company ® Helping over 375,000 students in 1000 school districts succeed in math.

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