Question

This is basically to wrap java factory methods which throw exceptions if the item can’t be created based on the inputs. I’m looking for something in the base library like:

 def exceptionToOption[A](f: => A):Option[A] ={
    try{
      Some(f)}
    catch{
      case e:Exception => None}
  }

Usage:

val id:Option[UUID] = exceptionToOption(UUID.fromString("this will produce None"))

I know I can write my own but I want to check I am not re-inventing the wheel.

Answer 1

Use scala.util.control.Exception:

import scala.util.control.Exception._

allCatch opt f

And you can make it more sophisticated. For example, to catch only arithmetic exceptions and retrieve the exception:

scala> catching(classOf[ArithmeticException]) either (2 / 0)
res5: Either[Throwable,Int] = Left(java.lang.ArithmeticException: / by zero)