Try::Tiny(3pm) User Contributed Perl Documentation Try::Tiny(3pm)
NAME
Try::Tiny - Minimal try/catch with proper preservation of $@
VERSION
version 0.32
SYNOPSIS
You can use Try::Tiny's "try" and "catch" to expect and handle
exceptional conditions, avoiding quirks in Perl and common mistakes:
# handle errors with a catch handler
try {
die "foo";
} catch {
warn "caught error: $_"; # not $@
};
You can also use it like a standalone "eval" to catch and ignore any
error conditions. Obviously, this is an extreme measure not to be
undertaken lightly:
# just silence errors
try {
die "foo";
};
DESCRIPTION
This module provides bare bones "try"/"catch"/"finally" statements that
are designed to minimize common mistakes with eval blocks, and NOTHING
else.
This is unlike TryCatch which provides a nice syntax and avoids adding
another call stack layer, and supports calling "return" from the "try"
block to return from the parent subroutine. These extra features come at
a cost of a few dependencies, namely Devel::Declare and Scope::Upper
which are occasionally problematic, and the additional catch filtering
uses Moose type constraints which may not be desirable either.
The main focus of this module is to provide simple and reliable error
handling for those having a hard time installing TryCatch, but who still
want to write correct "eval" blocks without 5 lines of boilerplate each
time.
It's designed to work as correctly as possible in light of the various
pathological edge cases (see "BACKGROUND") and to be compatible with any
style of error values (simple strings, references, objects, overloaded
objects, etc).
If the "try" block dies, it returns the value of the last statement
executed in the "catch" block, if there is one. Otherwise, it returns
"undef" in scalar context or the empty list in list context. The
following examples all assign "bar" to $x:
my $x = try { die "foo" } catch { "bar" };
my $x = try { die "foo" } || "bar";
my $x = (try { die "foo" }) // "bar";
my $x = eval { die "foo" } || "bar";
You can add "finally" blocks, yielding the following:
my $x;
try { die 'foo' } finally { $x = 'bar' };
try { die 'foo' } catch { warn "Got a die: $_" } finally { $x = 'bar' };
"finally" blocks are always executed making them suitable for cleanup
code which cannot be handled using local. You can add as many "finally"
blocks to a given "try" block as you like.
Note that adding a "finally" block without a preceding "catch" block
suppresses any errors. This behaviour is consistent with using a
standalone "eval", but it is not consistent with "try"/"finally"
patterns found in other programming languages, such as Java, Python,
Javascript or C#. If you learned the "try"/"finally" pattern from one of
these languages, watch out for this.
EXPORTS
All functions are exported by default using Exporter.
If you need to rename the "try", "catch" or "finally" keyword consider
using Sub::Import to get Sub::Exporter's flexibility.
try (&;@)
Takes one mandatory "try" subroutine, an optional "catch" subroutine
and "finally" subroutine.
The mandatory subroutine is evaluated in the context of an "eval"
block.
If no error occurred the value from the first block is returned,
preserving list/scalar context.
If there was an error and the second subroutine was given it will be
invoked with the error in $_ (localized) and as that block's first
and only argument.
$@ does not contain the error. Inside the "catch" block it has the
same value it had before the "try" block was executed.
Note that the error may be false, but if that happens the "catch"
block will still be invoked.
Once all execution is finished then the "finally" block, if given,
will execute.
catch (&;@)
Intended to be used in the second argument position of "try".
Returns a reference to the subroutine it was given but blessed as
"Try::Tiny::Catch" which allows try to decode correctly what to do
with this code reference.
catch { ... }
Inside the "catch" block the caught error is stored in $_, while
previous value of $@ is still available for use. This value may or
may not be meaningful depending on what happened before the "try",
but it might be a good idea to preserve it in an error stack.
For code that captures $@ when throwing new errors (i.e.
Class::Throwable), you'll need to do:
local $@ = $_;
finally (&;@)
try { ... }
catch { ... }
finally { ... };
Or
try { ... }
finally { ... };
Or even
try { ... }
finally { ... }
catch { ... };
Intended to be the second or third element of "try". "finally"
blocks are always executed in the event of a successful "try" or if
"catch" is run. This allows you to locate cleanup code which cannot
be done via local() e.g. closing a file handle.
When invoked, the "finally" block is passed the error that was
caught. If no error was caught, it is passed nothing. (Note that
the "finally" block does not localize $_ with the error, since
unlike in a "catch" block, there is no way to know if "$_ == undef"
implies that there were no errors.) In other words, the following
code does just what you would expect:
try {
die_sometimes();
} catch {
# ...code run in case of error
} finally {
if (@_) {
print "The try block died with: @_\n";
} else {
print "The try block ran without error.\n";
}
};
You must always do your own error handling in the "finally" block.
"Try::Tiny" will not do anything about handling possible errors
coming from code located in these blocks.
Furthermore exceptions in "finally" blocks are not trappable and are
unable to influence the execution of your program. This is due to
limitation of "DESTROY"-based scope guards, which "finally" is
implemented on top of. This may change in a future version of
Try::Tiny.
In the same way catch() blesses the code reference this subroutine
does the same except it bless them as "Try::Tiny::Finally".
BACKGROUND
There are a number of issues with "eval".
Clobbering $@
When you run an "eval" block and it succeeds, $@ will be cleared,
potentially clobbering an error that is currently being caught.
This causes action at a distance, clearing previous errors your caller
may have not yet handled.
$@ must be properly localized before invoking "eval" in order to avoid
this issue.
More specifically, before Perl version 5.14.0 $@ was clobbered at the
beginning of the "eval", which also made it impossible to capture the
previous error before you die (for instance when making exception
objects with error stacks).
For this reason "try" will actually set $@ to its previous value (the
one available before entering the "try" block) in the beginning of the
"eval" block.
Localizing $@ silently masks errors
Inside an "eval" block, "die" behaves sort of like:
sub die {
$@ = $_[0];
return_undef_from_eval();
}
This means that if you were polite and localized $@ you can't die in
that scope, or your error will be discarded (printing "Something's
wrong" instead).
The workaround is very ugly:
my $error = do {
local $@;
eval { ... };
$@;
};
...
die $error;
$@ might not be a true value
This code is wrong:
if ( $@ ) {
...
}
because due to the previous caveats it may have been unset.
$@ could also be an overloaded error object that evaluates to false, but
that's asking for trouble anyway.
The classic failure mode (fixed in Perl 5.14.0) is:
sub Object::DESTROY {
eval { ... }
}
eval {
my $obj = Object->new;
die "foo";
};
if ( $@ ) {
}
In this case since "Object::DESTROY" is not localizing $@ but still uses
"eval", it will set $@ to "".
The destructor is called when the stack is unwound, after "die" sets $@
to "foo at Foo.pm line 42\n", so by the time "if ( $@ )" is evaluated it
has been cleared by "eval" in the destructor.
The workaround for this is even uglier than the previous ones. Even
though we can't save the value of $@ from code that doesn't localize, we
can at least be sure the "eval" was aborted due to an error:
my $failed = not eval {
...
return 1;
};
This is because an "eval" that caught a "die" will always return a false
value.
ALTERNATE SYNTAX
Using Perl 5.10 you can use "Switch statements" in perlsyn (but please
don't, because that syntax has since been deprecated because there was
too much unexpected magical behaviour).
The "catch" block is invoked in a topicalizer context (like a "given"
block), but note that you can't return a useful value from "catch" using
the "when" blocks without an explicit "return".
This is somewhat similar to Perl 6's "CATCH" blocks. You can use it to
concisely match errors:
try {
require Foo;
} catch {
when (/^Can't locate .*?\.pm in \@INC/) { } # ignore
default { die $_ }
};
CAVEATS
• @_ is not available within the "try" block, so you need to copy your
argument list. In case you want to work with argument values
directly via @_ aliasing (i.e. allow "$_[1] = "foo""), you need to
pass @_ by reference:
sub foo {
my ( $self, @args ) = @_;
try { $self->bar(@args) }
}
or
sub bar_in_place {
my $self = shift;
my $args = \@_;
try { $_ = $self->bar($_) for @$args }
}
• "return" returns from the "try" block, not from the parent sub (note
that this is also how "eval" works, but not how TryCatch works):
sub parent_sub {
try {
die;
}
catch {
return;
};
say "this text WILL be displayed, even though an exception is thrown";
}
Instead, you should capture the return value:
sub parent_sub {
my $success = try {
die;
1;
};
return unless $success;
say "This text WILL NEVER appear!";
}
# OR
sub parent_sub_with_catch {
my $success = try {
die;
1;
}
catch {
# do something with $_
return undef; #see note
};
return unless $success;
say "This text WILL NEVER appear!";
}
Note that if you have a "catch" block, it must return "undef" for
this to work, since if a "catch" block exists, its return value is
returned in place of "undef" when an exception is thrown.
• "try" introduces another caller stack frame. Sub::Uplevel is not
used. Carp will not report this when using full stack traces,
though, because %Carp::Internal is used. This lack of magic is
considered a feature.
• The value of $_ in the "catch" block is not guaranteed to be the
value of the exception thrown ($@) in the "try" block. There is no
safe way to ensure this, since "eval" may be used unhygienically in
destructors. The only guarantee is that the "catch" will be called
if an exception is thrown.
• The return value of the "catch" block is not ignored, so if testing
the result of the expression for truth on success, be sure to return
a false value from the "catch" block:
my $obj = try {
MightFail->new;
} catch {
...
return; # avoid returning a true value;
};
return unless $obj;
• $SIG{__DIE__} is still in effect.
Though it can be argued that $SIG{__DIE__} should be disabled inside
of "eval" blocks, since it isn't people have grown to rely on it.
Therefore in the interests of compatibility, "try" does not disable
$SIG{__DIE__} for the scope of the error throwing code.
• Lexical $_ may override the one set by "catch".
For example Perl 5.10's "given" form uses a lexical $_, creating
some confusing behavior:
given ($foo) {
when (...) {
try {
...
} catch {
warn $_; # will print $foo, not the error
warn $_[0]; # instead, get the error like this
}
}
}
Note that this behavior was changed once again in Perl5 version 18
<https://metacpan.org/module/perldelta#given-now-aliases-the-
global-_>. However, since the entirety of lexical $_ is now
considered experimental
<https://metacpan.org/module/perldelta#Lexical-_-is-now-
experimental>, it is unclear whether the new version 18 behavior is
final.
SEE ALSO
Syntax::Keyword::Try
Only available on perls >= 5.14, with a slightly different syntax
(e.g. no trailing ";" because it's actually a keyword, not a sub,
but this means you can "return" and "next" within it). Use
Feature::Compat::Try to automatically switch to the native "try"
syntax in newer perls (when available). See also Try Catch Exception
Handling.
TryCatch
Much more feature complete, more convenient semantics, but at the
cost of implementation complexity.
autodie
Automatic error throwing for builtin functions and more. Also
designed to work well with "given"/"when".
Throwable
A lightweight role for rolling your own exception classes.
Error
Exception object implementation with a "try" statement. Does not
localize $@.
Exception::Class::TryCatch
Provides a "catch" statement, but properly calling "eval" is your
responsibility.
The "try" keyword pushes $@ onto an error stack, avoiding some of
the issues with $@, but you still need to localize to prevent
clobbering.
LIGHTNING TALK
I gave a lightning talk about this module, you can see the slides
(Firefox only):
<http://web.archive.org/web/20100628040134/http://nothingmuch.woobling.org/talks/takahashi.xul>
Or read the source:
<http://web.archive.org/web/20100305133605/http://nothingmuch.woobling.org/talks/yapc_asia_2009/try_tiny.yml>
SUPPORT
Bugs may be submitted through the RT bug tracker
<https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Try-Tiny> (or
bug-Try-Tiny@rt.cpan.org <mailto:bug-Try-Tiny@rt.cpan.org>).
AUTHORS
• יובל קוג'מן (Yuval Kogman) <nothingmuch@woobling.org>
• Jesse Luehrs <doy@tozt.net>
CONTRIBUTORS
• Karen Etheridge <ether@cpan.org>
• Peter Rabbitson <ribasushi@cpan.org>
• Ricardo Signes <rjbs@cpan.org>
• Mark Fowler <mark@twoshortplanks.com>
• Graham Knop <haarg@haarg.org>
• Aristotle Pagaltzis <pagaltzis@gmx.de>
• Dagfinn Ilmari Mannsåker <ilmari@ilmari.org>
• Lukas Mai <l.mai@web.de>
• Alex <alex@koban.(none)>
• anaxagoras <walkeraj@gmail.com>
• Andrew Yates <ayates@haddock.local>
• awalker <awalker@sourcefire.com>
• chromatic <chromatic@wgz.org>
• cm-perl <cm-perl@users.noreply.github.com>
• David Lowe <davidl@lokku.com>
• Glenn Fowler <cebjyre@cpan.org>
• Hans Dieter Pearcey <hdp@weftsoar.net>
• Jens Berthold <jens@jebecs.de>
• Jonathan Yu <JAWNSY@cpan.org>
• Marc Mims <marc@questright.com>
• Mark Stosberg <mark@stosberg.com>
• Pali <pali@cpan.org>
• Paul Howarth <paul@city-fan.org>
• Rudolf Leermakers <rudolf@hatsuseno.org>
COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE
This software is Copyright (c) 2009 by יובל קוג'מן (Yuval Kogman).
This is free software, licensed under:
The MIT (X11) License
perl v5.38.2 2024-08-17 Try::Tiny(3pm)
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