No, this is not a stupid question. Just a couple of months ago I was asking
the same question, but now I use eval quite a bit. Once you use it a few
times you will understand it. Here is a case where I used it recently, I
hope this example will clear it up for you a bit.
--
eval {
my $net = 'Net::DNS';
require $net;
if ($@) { # $@ returns null for success. so if $@ is not null.
do_stuff();
}
}
--
Why eval here ?
Eval is runtime as well as require, use is compile time, ie. if i
declare use Net::DNS and there is no Net::DNS the modules halts and
won't run. The eval is for testing to see if Net::DNS is installed, if
it's not install the error is saved in $@ so if $@ is set, then there is
no Net::DNS and we do our stuff, if $@ is empty we use Net::DNS.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Monday, August 13, 2001 3:05 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: eval
>
>
> A rather stupid question but I would appreciate a good answer........
>
> What is the point of the eval function. What would be a
> reason to use it.
> From what I gather it is a function that evaluates a piece of
> Perl code and
> returns the exit status of the code.
>
> What is the point. Why no just write code and check for exit status of
> commands where such a check is necessary.........
>
> Could it have something to do with run-time code
> generation............. ??
>
> Pardon my ignorance, I am still learning.
>
> TIA
> Ismar
>
>
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