Re: What is safe to do in an END block?

Well, are you sure you still have the database connected when the END block gets called ? Naturally you could reopen the database in the END block, but maybe the module you use for database access has "closed shop" at that time already. Any call into another module might trip over a die, I don't know what happens then

IMHO stuffing the END block is just not good style. I would use END only in small scripts, bigger programs should be written with few and well known exit points

If you have lots of die calls in your program it might be better to substitute the die calls with a subroutine that does the cleanup before dying. So that you can differentiate between normal and emergency (i.e. die) exit.

Comment on Re: What is safe to do in an END block?

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Re^2: What is safe to do in an END block? by ikegami (Patriarch) on Jun 01, 2008 at 03:28 UTC
but maybe the module you use for database access has "closed shop" at that time already. Why would modules spontaneously "close shop"? Other than making sure the module gets loaded before the END block is compiled, there should be no issue.	[reply]
Re^3: What is safe to do in an END block? by jethro (Monsignor) on Jun 01, 2008 at 11:39 UTC
Because they had their END block already called and within closed files or dropped connections Ok, this is far fetched, but as long as you haven't read the module source code you can't be sure the module writer didn't have same ingenious or dump idea how things could be done better or cleaner. You are relying on a feature the module author never even thought of, an internal detail that just is correct for at least 99% of all modules. And maybe wrong for just the module you are using	[reply]
Re^4: What is safe to do in an END block? by ikegami (Patriarch) on Jun 01, 2008 at 21:04 UTC
Because they had their END block already called and within closed files or dropped connections That's why I said you have to make sure the module is loaded before your END block is compiled. The order in which END blocks are executed is well defined. Now it's true the module can shoot itself in the foot — Perl sure has plenty of ways of making that happen — but it can do that whether you use END blocks or not. It's not something you should worry about until you encounter a module with which you have an issue.	[reply]