I have two places where I use eval all the time. I think eval is the best choice in these situations, maybe someone has a better alternative (that doesn't require non-core modules).

1) retrieving stored hashes
I regularily used Data::Dumper to turn hashes into strings so they can be stored in a database for later retrieval. The string accurately represents the original hash with out my having to do a thing and it's safe to store anyway I have to, flat files, dbm, mysql. When the data is later retrieved, eval is the easiest way to get it back into a useful hash. Something like this: 
use Data::Dumper;
$Data::Dumper::Indent = 0; # no spaces tabs or other fluff
$Data::Dumper::Purity = 1; # include code to recreate recursive refere
+nces

sub store_hash {
    my $hash_ref = shift;
    my $saved = Dumper($hash_ref);
    # store $saved somewhere
}

sub get_hash {
    # get $saved from somewhere
    my $VAR1;
    eval {$saved}
    return $VAR1 ? $VAR1 : {};
}

[download]

1) wrapping DBI calls to capture errors. Far as I know this is the recommended (only?) way to do this. 
sub selectrow_array { my $dbh = shift;
    my $query = shift;
    my @result;
    eval { @result = $dbh->selectrow_array($query) };
    return my_custom_error_handler("selectrow_array $query") if $@;
    return @result;
}

[download]
More generically I guess you could say eval is the tool of choice when ever you have to call code beyond your control that may kill your script.

In reply to Re: Small examples of string eval by ruzam
in thread Small examples of string eval by spurperl

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.