To add an eval to catch the error you are getting would look like:

open DATA, "<$datafile" or die "$!";
{
    local $/;
    eval { %somehash  = %{ eval <DATA> }; };
}
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but I'd do it differently. I'd check for the empty file separately so that a malformed file still generates an error that you can diagnose.

        - tye (but my friends call me "Tye")