use Data::Dumper;

eval {
 die {errorcode => 12, errormess => 'you have died'};
};
print "error caught: ".Dumper($@) if $@;
# or even better
eval {
 die bless {errorcode => 12, errormess => 'you have died'} => 'My::Exception';
};
print "error caught2: ".$@->{errormess}."\n" if $@ and ref($@) eq 'My::Exception';