print one();

sub one {
    my $result = two();

    if (ref $result eq 'ERROR') {
        die $result->{message};
    }
    else {
        return $result;
    }
}

sub two {
    if (rand(100) > 50) {
        return bless {message=>"There is a problem here."}, 'ERROR';
    }
    return "Things are fine.";
}

Courtesy of Michael Mathews

How to return an error message or a value

perl

Perl