Re^7: How to make Geo::Coder::Google run even if input location doesn't exist

[AnomalousMonk]

my $response;
until (defined $response){
    eval{
        $response = $geocoder->geocode(location => $place);
        if ($@){
            "Couldn't get location : $place\n";
        }else{
            ($long, $lat) = @{ $response->{Point}{coordinates} };
        }
    }
        
}

Whoa. I just took a look at the broader picture, and this chunk of code seems highly suspect. First off, let me say that I'm completely unfamiliar with Geo::Coder::Google and the Google service(s) involved, but one should never let compete ignorance prevent one from offering advice.

The primary problem I see is that the  $@ eval error variable is being evaluated within the eval block!

The docs for  $@ say (emphases added):

$EVAL_ERROR
$@    The Perl syntax error message from the last "eval()" operator.
          If $@ is the null string, the last "eval()" parsed and executed
          correctly (although the operations you invoked may have failed
          in the normal fashion).
          ...

It may be that the  geocode() method throws an exception (dies) and traps that exception, thus setting  $@ to a meaningful value; again, I'm not familiar with this module. If this is not the case, the test of  $@ in a given loop may actually be testing the value set on the previous iteration of the  until loop; however, I don't know if  eval() clears  $@ to a non-error value at the start of its execution.

Either of these possibilities (or perhaps some other) may explain why you are still getting latitude and longitude coordinates for places that do not exist, at least insofar as Google is aware, which does not seem to be helpful behavior for your program and, yes, does seem to be a problem!

Perhaps see the discussion of Error Variables in perlvar, likewise eval.

[M15U]

You are right, I forgot to put the print statement. Actually I'm pretty knew to perl so I have some problems wraping my mind around all the perl functions.

As I understand by this point my script, when it encounters an unknown location it will not search for coordinates, instead it will take the previous detected coordinates and replace the ones in the unknown location.

As you suggest, it doesn't really look as a good practice, but for know it works for me... Thank you for your advices nevertheless