python command-line-style application with tkinter

Question

In the application I'm currently working on, i want to include a feature in which the administrator has access to a sort of command line.
This is not the actual command line, instead it looks for keywords inside a Textbox that I define, and runs their linked functions with the input parameters.
For instance:

get user data: erikthered

...would run the method self.user_data('erikthered') , but I'm unsure how to get to this step elegantly, without using messy things like eval or exec .
These features should ideally also work for multiple parameters.
I apologise if this question is considered subjective, but I haven't really programmed something like this before, and I value other people's insights.
Thanks

UPDATE One way to do this, using exec , is to use a dictionary, like so:

    links = {'get users':'self.get_users(parameters)', 'get user data':'self.get_user_data(parameters)'}

    terminal = self.terminal
    line = str(terminal.index(INSERT).split('.')[0])
    #get index of line

    line = terminal.get(line+'.0', line+'.end')
    splitline = line.split(':')

    command = splitline[0]
    parameters = splitline[1].split(',')
    exec(links[command])

This is the code I have to get the text that the user has typed, bound to a return press. But I would prefer not to use exec .

Answer 1

If you don't want to use exec , you can do a dictionary of functions:

def get_user_data(*args):
    print(*args)
# dictionary of functions
functions = {'get user data': get_user_data}

line = "get user data: erikthered, turtle"

# parse line
command, params = line.split(":")
params = [p.strip() for p in params.split(",")]
functions[command](*params)