Execute var python

Question

I've got the below def, ITEM comes from a menu. I'm having problems with encoding hex though, as the format of the command is different i.e. var then command. How can I have bottomtext.insert(INSERT, var + process) execute please? At the moment all that happens is that testingtext.encode("hex") is inserted into bottomtext. I did look at exec but there seems to be a general view that exec shouldn't be necessary? Base64 + url encoding work fine. Any assistance please?

Thank you

def gui(item):
    def default_encode(s):
        s.encode('oops')
        print s.encode

    encodehexstring = '.encode("hex")'
    mapping = {"encode_b64": base64.encodestring,"encode_url": urllib.quote_plus,"encode_hex": encodehexstring}
    process = mapping.get(item, default_encode)

    def getText():
    #clear right text field
        bottomtext.delete(1.0, END)
    #var equals whats in left
        var = middletext.get(1.0, 'end-1c')
    #encode it

    #insert encoded var in right
        if process == encodehexstring:
            bottomtext.insert(INSERT, var + process)
        else:
            bottomtext.insert(INSERT, process(var))

Answer 1

mapping = {'encode_b64': base64.encodestring, 'encode_url': urllib.quote_plus, 'encode_hex': lambda s: s.encode('hex')}

Edit: Or without the lambda (means exactly the same, it's just more to write):

def hexencode(s):
   return s.encode("hex")
mapping = {'encode_b64': base64.encodestring, 'encode_url': urllib.quote_plus, 'encode_hex': hexencode}