exceptionerlangerleshell

Precise exception type for division by zero in Erlang

I want to catch zero division error but do not know which exact pattern should I write for that

Result = try 5/0 catch {'EXIT',{badarith,_}} -> 0.

It works when I catch all the exceptions via

Result = try 5/0 catch _:_ -> 0.

but the first example gives

** exception error: an error occurred when evaluating an arithmetic expression

So how to properly catch zero division

Solution

  • You may use this code which I get from http://learnyousomeerlang.com/errors-and-exceptions

    catcher(X,Y) ->
  case catch X/Y of
   {'EXIT', {badarith,_}} -> "uh oh";
   N -> N
  end.

6> c(exceptions).
{ok,exceptions}
7> exceptions:catcher(3,3).
1.0
8> exceptions:catcher(6,3).
2.0
9> exceptions:catcher(6,0).
"uh oh"

    OR

    catcher(X, Y) -> 
  try 
   X/Y 
  catch 
   error:badarith -> 0 
  end.