catch an error in perl

Question

I have to read a huge data base of xml files, using XML::Simple.

my $xml = XMLin("${file}", ForceArray => 1, KeyAttr => {});

the problem is that some of those xml are corrupted and I would like my program to delete those and keep running. I have not been able to find any way to catch the error comming from XMLin parser error : Start tag expected '<' not found

Any idea ?

I tried but `if (eval(XMLin("${file}", ForceArray => 1, KeyAttr => {}))` does not work either — Arcyno, Dec 18 '15 at 10:42
`eval` doesn't return `true/false` if it worked - it returns ... whatever the `eval` would return.You need to trap `$@` for the result of the eval. — Sobrique, Dec 18 '15 at 10:43

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:27

3

First off - please don't use XML::Simple - it's deeply nasty. Why is XML::Simple "Discouraged"?

To address your point though - broken XML is supposed to be fatal to the parser - it must die (by design). The way you handle this in perl is wrap it in an eval block, and catch $@ to see if it failed:

my $xml = eval { XMLin("${file}", ForceArray => 1, KeyAttr => {}); };
warn $@ if $@;

edited May 23 '17 at 10:27

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answered Dec 18 '15 at 10:42

Sobrique

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I didn't know about XML:Simple. Thanks for that – Arcyno Dec 18 '15 at 11:13
You aren't the first to be caught out. It says simple, but it lies. – Sobrique Dec 18 '15 at 19:47

catch an error in perl

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