I would do this rather differently: 
my $href = do $datafile;
if (not $href) {
  if ($!) {
    die "Cannot eval $datafile: $!";
  }
  else {
     $href = {};
  }
}
my %hash = %$href;

[download]

In reply to Re (tilly) 1: Data::Dumper and eval by tilly
in thread Data::Dumper and eval by Anonymous Monk

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