import string
def function1():
print "called function 1"
def function2():
print "called function 2"
def function3():
print "called function 3"
tokenDict = {"cat":function1, "dog":function2, "bear":function3}
# simulate, say, lines read from a file
lines = ["cat","bear","cat","dog"]
for line in lines:
# lookup the function to call for each line
functionToCall = tokenDict[line]
# and call it
functionToCall()