Don't return your

string representing what went wrong.

Code that reports an error should die.

This is called throwing an exception.

sub methodfunction {
    # take a spoonful
    die 'too hot'  if $temp > $hottest_allowed;
    die 'too cold' if $temp < $coldest_allowed;
}

[download]

You ask:

in my script that calls the method, can I save the returned string somehow without saving it directly to a $variable?

Yes, if your script wraps error-prone statements in an eval block, it can find the error in $@ (or $EVAL_ERROR if you use English). Admittedly this is a variable, but at least you didn't have to declare it. 

sub rollback {
    my $undesired = shift;
    print "That was $undesired. I shall try another bowl.\n";
}
# and later ...
eval {methodfunction()};
rollback($EVAL_ERROR) if $EVAL_ERROR;

[download]

The advantage of working in this way is that everyone who reads your code will understand that the string in question is an error string. It's confusing to have the only return value of a function be an error.

In reply to Re: how to return info from functions? Die. by Narveson
in thread how to return info from functions by chuckd

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