EXPR is parsed and executed as if it were a little Perl program. It is executed in the context of the current Perl program, so that any variable settings, subroutine or format definitions remain afterwards. The value returned is the value of the last expression evaluated, or a return statement may be used, just as with subroutines.

If there is a syntax error or runtime error, or a die() statement is executed, an undefined value is returned by eval() , and $@ is set to the error message. If there was no error, $@ is guaranteed to be a null string. If EXPR is omitted, evaluates $_. The final semicolon, if any, may be omitted from the expression.

Note that, since eval() traps otherwise-fatal errors, it is useful for determining whether a particular feature (such as dbmopen() or symlink() ) is implemented. It is also Perl's exception trapping mechanism, where the die operator is used to raise exceptions.

If the code to be executed doesn't vary, you may use the eval-BLOCK form to trap run-time errors without incurring the penalty of recompiling each time. The error, if any, is still returned in $@. Examples:

With an eval() , you should be especially careful to remember what's being looked at when:

Cases 1 and 2 above behave identically: they run the code contained in the variable $x. (Although case 2 has misleading double quotes making the reader wonder what else might be happening (nothing is).) Cases 3 and 4 likewise behave in the same way: they run the code<$x>, which does nothing at all. (Case 4 is preferred for purely visual reasons.) Case 5 is a place where normally you WOULD like to use double quotes, except in that particular situation, you can just use symbolic references instead, as in case 6.