in reply to Returning data from an eval

One problem is that your trials don't do what you intend with the program flow. Something like my @results = map { eval $_ } @$analysis_rules; is probably more like what you want. The example with return is particularly likely to be unexpected at you.

With your rules containing return as well, it's not clear what you expect to happen when they are evaluated. Should they be compiled as subroutines?

After Compline,
Zaxo