Is None really a built-in?

I am trying to use Python's (2.7) eval in a (relatively) safe manner. Hence, I defined:

def safer_eval(string):
    """Safer version of eval() as globals and builtins are inaccessible"""
    return eval(string, {'__builtins__': {}})

As expected, the following does not work any more:

print safer_eval("True")
NameError: name 'True' is not defined

However, I can still eval a "None" string:

print safer_eval("None")
None

So, is None not a built-in? They are at least both part of __builtin__ ...
Why is it still eval-able?
How would I get rid of it, if I had to?

Solution

None is a constant in Python, see the Keywords documentation:

Changed in version 2.4: None became a constant and is now recognized by the compiler as a name for the built-in object None. Although it is not a keyword, you cannot assign a different object to it.

The compiler simply inserts a reference to the singleton None object whenever you name it:

>>> from dis import dis
>>> dis(compile('None', '', 'eval'))
  1           0 LOAD_CONST               0 (None)
              3 RETURN_VALUE

True and False are built-ins in Python 2, which also means they can be masked.

In Python 3, None, True and False all are now keywords, and all three are materialised merely by naming them:

>>> eval('True', {'__builtins__': {}})
True

See Guido van Rossum's blog post on why this was changed.

Note that there is nothing safe about eval, even with __builtins__ neutered, as it can still be referenced via other means:

>>> s = '''
... [
...     c for c in ().__class__.__base__.__subclasses__()
...     if c.__name__ == 'catch_warnings'
... ][0]()._module.__builtins__
... '''
>>> eval(s, {'__builtins__': {}})
{'bytearray': <type 'bytearray'>, 'IndexError': <type 'exceptions.IndexError'>, 'all': <built-in function all>, 'help': Type help() for interactive help, or help(object) for help about object., 'vars': <built-in function vars>, 'SyntaxError': <type 'exceptions.SyntaxError'>, 'unicode': <type 'unicode'>, 'UnicodeDecodeError': <type 'exceptions.UnicodeDecodeError'>, 'memoryview': <type 'memoryview'>, 'isinstance': <built-in function isinstance>, 'copyright': Copyright (c) 2001-2015 Python Software Foundation.
All Rights Reserved.

Copyright (c) 2000 BeOpen.com.
All Rights Reserved.

Copyright (c) 1995-2001 Corporation for National Research Initiatives.
All Rights Reserved.

Copyright (c) 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam.
All Rights Reserved., 'NameError': <type 'exceptions.NameError'>, 'BytesWarning': <type 'exceptions.BytesWarning'>, 'dict': <type 'dict'>, 'input': <built-in function input>, 'oct': <built-in function oct>, 'bin': <built-in function bin>, 'SystemExit': <type 'exceptions.SystemExit'>, 'StandardError': <type 'exceptions.StandardError'>, 'format': <built-in function format>, 'repr': <built-in function repr>, 'sorted': <built-in function sorted>, 'False': False, 'RuntimeWarning': <type 'exceptions.RuntimeWarning'>, 'list': <type 'list'>, 'iter': <built-in function iter>, 'reload': <built-in function reload>, 'Warning': <type 'exceptions.Warning'>, '__package__': None, 'round': <built-in function round>, 'dir': <built-in function dir>, 'cmp': <built-in function cmp>, 'set': <type 'set'>, 'bytes': <type 'str'>, 'reduce': <built-in function reduce>, 'intern': <built-in function intern>, 'issubclass': <built-in function issubclass>, 'Ellipsis': Ellipsis, 'EOFError': <type 'exceptions.EOFError'>, 'locals': <built-in function locals>, 'BufferError': <type 'exceptions.BufferError'>, 'slice': <type 'slice'>, 'FloatingPointError': <type 'exceptions.FloatingPointError'>, 'sum': <built-in function sum>, 'getattr': <built-in function getattr>, 'abs': <built-in function abs>, 'exit': Use exit() or Ctrl-D (i.e. EOF) to exit, 'print': <built-in function print>, 'True': True, 'FutureWarning': <type 'exceptions.FutureWarning'>, 'ImportWarning': <type 'exceptions.ImportWarning'>, 'None': None, 'hash': <built-in function hash>, 'ReferenceError': <type 'exceptions.ReferenceError'>, 'len': <built-in function len>, 'credits':     Thanks to CWI, CNRI, BeOpen.com, Zope Corporation and a cast of thousands
    for supporting Python development.  See www.python.org for more information., 'frozenset': <type 'frozenset'>, '__name__': '__builtin__', 'ord': <built-in function ord>, 'super': <type 'super'>, '_': None, 'TypeError': <type 'exceptions.TypeError'>, 'license': See http://www.python.org/2.7/license.html, 'KeyboardInterrupt': <type 'exceptions.KeyboardInterrupt'>, 'UserWarning': <type 'exceptions.UserWarning'>, 'filter': <built-in function filter>, 'range': <built-in function range>, 'staticmethod': <type 'staticmethod'>, 'SystemError': <type 'exceptions.SystemError'>, 'BaseException': <type 'exceptions.BaseException'>, 'pow': <built-in function pow>, 'RuntimeError': <type 'exceptions.RuntimeError'>, 'float': <type 'float'>, 'MemoryError': <type 'exceptions.MemoryError'>, 'StopIteration': <type 'exceptions.StopIteration'>, 'globals': <built-in function globals>, 'divmod': <built-in function divmod>, 'enumerate': <type 'enumerate'>, 'apply': <built-in function apply>, 'LookupError': <type 'exceptions.LookupError'>, 'open': <built-in function open>, 'quit': Use quit() or Ctrl-D (i.e. EOF) to exit, 'basestring': <type 'basestring'>, 'UnicodeError': <type 'exceptions.UnicodeError'>, 'zip': <built-in function zip>, 'hex': <built-in function hex>, 'long': <type 'long'>, 'next': <built-in function next>, 'ImportError': <type 'exceptions.ImportError'>, 'chr': <built-in function chr>, 'xrange': <type 'xrange'>, 'type': <type 'type'>, '__doc__': "Built-in functions, exceptions, and other objects.\n\nNoteworthy: None is the `nil' object; Ellipsis represents `...' in slices.", 'Exception': <type 'exceptions.Exception'>, 'tuple': <type 'tuple'>, 'UnicodeTranslateError': <type 'exceptions.UnicodeTranslateError'>, 'reversed': <type 'reversed'>, 'UnicodeEncodeError': <type 'exceptions.UnicodeEncodeError'>, 'IOError': <type 'exceptions.IOError'>, 'hasattr': <built-in function hasattr>, 'delattr': <built-in function delattr>, 'setattr': <built-in function setattr>, 'raw_input': <built-in function raw_input>, 'SyntaxWarning': <type 'exceptions.SyntaxWarning'>, 'compile': <built-in function compile>, 'ArithmeticError': <type 'exceptions.ArithmeticError'>, 'str': <type 'str'>, 'property': <type 'property'>, 'GeneratorExit': <type 'exceptions.GeneratorExit'>, 'int': <type 'int'>, '__import__': <built-in function __import__>, 'KeyError': <type 'exceptions.KeyError'>, 'coerce': <built-in function coerce>, 'PendingDeprecationWarning': <type 'exceptions.PendingDeprecationWarning'>, 'file': <type 'file'>, 'EnvironmentError': <type 'exceptions.EnvironmentError'>, 'unichr': <built-in function unichr>, 'id': <built-in function id>, 'OSError': <type 'exceptions.OSError'>, 'DeprecationWarning': <type 'exceptions.DeprecationWarning'>, 'min': <built-in function min>, 'UnicodeWarning': <type 'exceptions.UnicodeWarning'>, 'execfile': <built-in function execfile>, 'any': <built-in function any>, 'complex': <type 'complex'>, 'bool': <type 'bool'>, 'ValueError': <type 'exceptions.ValueError'>, 'NotImplemented': NotImplemented, 'map': <built-in function map>, 'buffer': <type 'buffer'>, 'max': <built-in function max>, 'object': <type 'object'>, 'TabError': <type 'exceptions.TabError'>, 'callable': <built-in function callable>, 'ZeroDivisionError': <type 'exceptions.ZeroDivisionError'>, 'eval': <built-in function eval>, '__debug__': True, 'IndentationError': <type 'exceptions.IndentationError'>, 'AssertionError': <type 'exceptions.AssertionError'>, 'classmethod': <type 'classmethod'>, 'UnboundLocalError': <type 'exceptions.UnboundLocalError'>, 'NotImplementedError': <type 'exceptions.NotImplementedError'>, 'AttributeError': <type 'exceptions.AttributeError'>, 'OverflowError': <type 'exceptions.OverflowError'>}

or you can simply blow up the interpreter by creating a broken code object. See Eval really is dangerous.

If all you want to do is load Python literal syntax (lists, tuples, dictionaries, strings, numbers, etc.) then you want to use the ast.literal_eval() function, specifically designed to be safe.