Index: core/lib/Foswiki/Macros/EVAL.pm
===================================================================
--- core/lib/Foswiki/Macros/EVAL.pm	(revision 0)
+++ core/lib/Foswiki/Macros/EVAL.pm	(revision 0)
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+# See bottom of file for license and copyright information
+package Foswiki;
+
+use strict;
+
+our $evalParser;
+
+sub EVAL {
+    my ( $this, $params, $topicObject ) = @_;
+    my $result;
+    my $expr = $params->{_DEFAULT};
+    my $style = $params->{style} || '';
+
+    # Recursion block.
+    $this->{evaluatingEval} ||= {};
+
+    # Block after 5 levels.
+    if (   $this->{evaluatingEval}->{$expr}
+        && $this->{evaluatingEval}->{$expr} > 5 )
+    {
+        delete $this->{evaluatingEval}->{$expr};
+        return '';
+    }
+    unless ($evalParser) {
+        require Foswiki::If::Parser;
+        $evalParser = new Foswiki::If::Parser();
+    }
+
+    $this->{evaluatingEval}->{$expr}++;
+    try {
+        my $node = $evalParser->parse($expr);
+        $result = $node->evaluate( tom => $topicObject, data => $topicObject );
+        if ($style eq 'json') {
+            use JSON ();
+            $result = JSON::to_json($result, {allow_nonref => 1});
+        } elsif ($style eq 'perl' || ref($result)) {
+            use Data::Dumper ();
+            local $Data::Dumper::Indent = 0;
+            local $Data::Dumper::Terse = 1;
+            $result = Data::Dumper->Dump([$result]);
+        } else {
+            $result = '' if (!defined $result);
+        }
+
+    }
+    catch Foswiki::Infix::Error with {
+        my $e = shift;
+        $result =
+          $this->inlineAlert( 'alerts', 'generic', 'EVAL{', $params->stringify(),
+            '}:', $e->{-text} );
+    }
+    finally {
+        delete $this->{evaluatingEval}->{$expr};
+    };
+
+    return $result;
+}
+
+1;
+__DATA__
+Foswiki - The Free and Open Source Wiki, http://foswiki.org/
+
+Copyright (C) 2010 Foswiki Contributors. Foswiki Contributors
+are listed in the AUTHORS file in the root of this distribution.
+NOTE: Please extend that file, not this notice.
+
+This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
+of the License, or (at your option) any later version. For
+more details read LICENSE in the root of this distribution.
+
+This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+As per the GPL, removal of this notice is prohibited.
Index: core/lib/Foswiki.pm
===================================================================
--- core/lib/Foswiki.pm	(revision 6495)
+++ core/lib/Foswiki.pm	(working copy)
@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@
         },
         ENCODE            => undef,
         ENV               => undef,
+        EVAL              => undef,
         EXPAND            => undef,
         FORMFIELD         => undef,
         FOREACH           => undef,
Index: core/data/System/VarEVAL.txt
===================================================================
--- core/data/System/VarEVAL.txt	(revision 0)
+++ core/data/System/VarEVAL.txt	(revision 0)
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+%META:TOPICINFO{author="ProjectContributor" date="1266949232" format="1.1" version="1.2"}%
+%META:TOPICPARENT{name="Macros"}%
+#VarEVAL
+---+++ EVAL -- displays meta-data
+   * Uses the query syntax described in [[System.QuerySearch][QuerySearch]] (and also used for [[System.VarIF][%IF]]) to get information about meta-data.
+   * Syntax: =%<nop>EVAL{ "expression" [ style="perl|json" ] }%=
+   * Examples:
+      * %<nop>EVAL{"form.name"}% gets the name of the form in the current topic
+      * %<nop>EVAL{"fields[name='Firstname'].value"}% gets the value of the 'Firstname' form field in the current topic
+      * %<nop>EVAL{"Firstname"}% gets the value of the 'Firstname' form field in the current topic (shorthand version)
+      * %<nop>EVAL{"'System.DocumentGraphics'/attachments[1].name"}% gets a list of all the names of attachments on the topic 'System.DocumentGraphics'
+Plain strings (such as field values) are generated _without_ quotes. Where values are data structures (hashes or arrays), they will be returned as Perl code strings generated by running through CPAN:Data::Dumper. You can change this behaviour to generate valid perl code strings by giving the =style="perl"= parameter, and as JSON strings by passing =style="json"=.
+
+   * Related: [[%IF{"'%INCLUDINGTOPIC%'='Macros'" then="#"}%VarMETA][META]] [[%IF{"'%INCLUDINGTOPIC%'='Macros'" then="#"}%QuerySearch][QuerySearch]]
\ No newline at end of file