eval { @result = $dbh->selectrow_array($query) };
    return my_custom_error_handler("selectrow_array $query") if $@;
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That is an example of block eval, not string eval; the OP was asking about string eval. There is wide agreement that block eval is a good thing in Perl 5 (for exception handling). Overloading eval with two different meanings in Perl 5 was unfortunate and is fixed in Perl 6, where block eval is spelled try.