syntax error in eval()

[harold fellermann]

Hi all,

I am trying to dynamically add class attributes at runtime using the 
function eval(),
i.e. I want to do something like

 >>> class X : pass
...
 >>> X.attr = 5

but without knowing either the attributes name nor its value.
However, I encounter a syntax error I cannot understand:

Python 2.4 (#1, Dec 30 2004, 08:00:10)
[GCC 3.3 20030304 (Apple Computer, Inc. build 1495)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
 >>> class X : pass
...
 >>> attrname = "attr"
 >>> eval("X.%s = val" % attrname , {"X":X, "val":5})
Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
   File "<string>", line 1
     X.attr = val
            ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax


Does anyone have a clue what might be wrong? Thanks in advance.

- harold -

--
"I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe
  and what I believe - I believe what I believe is right."
-- George W. Bushman