exit or die in error handling?

Anonymous Monk has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi all,
I have a doubt, I am posting my code here.

#!/usr/bin/perl 
$type = $ARGV[0];
$argument = $ARGV[1];

if( $type eq 'job' || $type eq 'member' || $type eq 'file' )
{
print "yes...";
    
}
else {
print "The parameters for this program are as follows: [job/member/fil
+e] [jobnumber/membernumber/filename]";
die;
}
[download]

or in else condition shall I use

else {
print "The parameters for this program are as follows: [job/member/fil
+e] [jobnumber/membernumber/filename]";
exit;
}
[download]

Which one is the best way? (Memory management point of view).
Regards,
John

Edited by Arunbear: Changed title from 'Provide your valuable suggestion', as per Monastery guidelines

Comment on exit or die in error handling? Select or Download Code

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Re: exit or die in error handling? by monkey_boy (Priest) on Apr 14, 2005 at 10:16 UTC
I dont think "Memory management" has anything to do with it. They both end the program, however exit() without an argument returns 0 (which is true in the nix world). also, errors should be printed to STDERR not SDTOUT. So.. third option.. `else { die("The parameters for this program are as follows: [job/member/fil +e] [jobnumber/membernumber/filename]"); }` [download] This is not a Signature...*	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: exit or die in error handling? by Thilosophy (Curate) on Apr 15, 2005 at 01:10 UTC
They both end the program, I think the most important difference is that `die` can be caught by an `eval` (it is Perl's way of doing exceptions) in other parts of the program, so it does not necessarily end the program. Using `die` thus makes code more easily reusable, and is a good habit to get into.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: exit or die in error handling? by myuserid7 (Scribe) on Apr 14, 2005 at 10:15 UTC
Use "exit" if it's not an error. Use "die" if it is. You don't want to worry about memory management for simple things like this - think programmer efficiency!	[reply]
Re: exit or die in error handling? by QM (Parson) on Apr 14, 2005 at 15:30 UTC
I would suggest also looking at one of the Getopt::* modules on how to manage command line parameters (Getopt::Long, or my current favorite, Getopt::Declare). There is also the -s command line switch for parsing command line options. -QM -- Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of	[reply]
Re: exit or die in error handling? by Taulmarill (Deacon) on Apr 14, 2005 at 10:17 UTC
depends on what you want to do. die gives an error message to STDOUT and is used if there is an error. exit on the other hand just ends the script. see perldoc -f die and perldoc -f exit	[reply]
Re^2: exit or die in error handling? by monkey_boy (Priest) on Apr 14, 2005 at 10:21 UTC
"die gives an error message to STDOUT" No it doesnt! STDERR This is not a Signature...	[reply] [d/l]