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(this is copy-pasted from http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-ideas/2011-July/010787.html )
compile('1\n2\n', '','single') == compile('1\n', '','single').
That is, it ignores the second statement ('2\n'),
without offering a way for the caller to detect this.
Considering that 'single' is primarily used to emulate the behaviour
of the Python interpreter, most of the time, giving it multiple
statements is an impossibility, and so that case doesn't matter and
could raise an exception without affecting existing code. For example,
the code module meets this description, as do debuggers and such.
However, in cases where it _is_ possible to give the compiler multiple
statements, the user should be warned that his input isn't valid,
somehow. For example, the following doctest will mysteriously fail,
because it was written incorrectly (doctest uses 'single'):
 >>> import sys
 ... sys.stdout.write('foo\n')
 foo
This is because the second statement in the doctest was silently
discarded by compile(). It might not always be clear to users how to
fix this, and I think this kind of non-obvious error would exist in
any use of 'single' that can in theory involve multiple statements,
through user error or program bug. So I'd appreciate it if compile()
raised an exception in this case. Perhaps SyntaxError or ValueError.

Pending an argument against, I agree with the change.
I think SyntaxError would be best. ValueError (etc) is for runtime (though this is compile during runtime).
What would you have for the error message? My first idea is
"Cannot compile multiple statements as a single statement."
This should be clear enough when calling compile(...'single').
It should at least give a hint in the doctest case.

IMO this is a bug and should be fixed in stable versions too.

I think an exception is fine, but it should only happen in 3.3.

The attached patch fixes this be checking what is left in the input
buffer after parsing. Anything but trailing whitespace and comments
triggers the exception.
Ignoring trailing whitespace and comments makes sense, but it is also 
somewhat required. Trailing comments are common in doctests:
 >>> doctest.testfile('test_doctest.txt', raise_on_error=True)
 ... # doctest: +ELLIPSIS
and trailing whitespace is used by the codeop heuristics.
Here is an example of the new exception:
>>> compile('1 + 2\n3 + 4\n', '','single')
Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
 File "", line 1
 1 + 2
 ^
SyntaxError: multiple statements found while compiling a single statement
Tested on Fedora 15; no regressions.

I don’t understand why some two-liners are allowed (like "class X:\n pass"). The doc says "a single interactive statement".

On Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 10:56 AM, Éric Araujo <report@bugs.python.org> wrote:
> I don’t understand why some two-liners are allowed (like "class X:\n pass"). The doc says "a single interactive statement".
Because a single statement can be multiple lines (as is the case for
compound statements). Look at the grammar for a single input
statement
(interactive_input):
http://docs.python.org/dev/reference/toplevel_components.html#interactive-input.
 This issue is really about multiple statements
and not multiple lines.

Because a class statement is one statement (it is a compound statement, but still just one). The docs don't talk about lines :)
A "single interactive statement" is what you can enter at the interactive prompt in one line, or more than one line with only secondary prompts from the second line on.

Thank you both for fixing my incomplete understanding.
Meador, unless you want a review from another core dev, I think you can just go ahead.

New changeset 2bd7f40108b4 by Meador Inge in branch 'default':
Issue #12705: Raise SyntaxError when compiling multiple statements as single interactive statement
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/2bd7f40108b4 

Fixed in 3.3.