php: repeat function call 2-3 times in catch()

Question

so a function crashes sometimes ( uncaught exception ) and i want to re-call it 2 times when that happens with a delay of 1 seconds let's say. Here's is the code but it doesn't seem to work:

$crashesn = 0;

function checkNum($number) {
    echo $number . "<br>";
    if ($number>1) {
        throw new Exception("Value must be 1 or below");
    }
    return true;
}

try {
    checkNum(2);
    echo 'If you see this, the number is 1 or below';
}

catch(Exception $e) {
    $crashesn++;
    echo "crashes number:".$crashesn."<br>";
    if ($crashesn <= 2) {
        sleep(1);
        checkNum(2);
    } else {
        echo "MESSAGE: " .$e->getMessage();
    }
}

checknum is the function which throws the exception ( here it crashes every time by throwing an exception ). The problem is, when I run this piece of code, i still get on my page an error message

Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'Exception' with message 'Value must be 1 or below' in G:\fix\ta_dll\test.php:30 Stack trace: #0 c:\wwwl\test.php(45): checkNum(2) #1 {main} thrown in c:\php\test.php on line 30

instead of a "MESSAGE: ERROR DESCRIPTION". the "crashes number" line only gets printed once, not twice.

anyone knows what I am doing wrong ?

Answer 1

Try with a loop instead

for ($crashes = 0; $crashes < 3; $crashes++) {
    try {
        checkNum(2);
        echo 'If you see this, the number is 1 or below';
        break;
    }
    catch(Exception $e) {
        echo "crashes number:" . $crashes . "<br>";
        if ($crashes < 2) {
            sleep(1);
        } else {
            echo "MESSAGE: " . $e->getMessage();
        }
    }
}

When checkNum() returns properly, the for loop is left with the break. Otherwise, when an exception is thrown, break is skipped and the loop repeats.

Answer 2

From your comments : it crashes sometimes (due to memory leaks i guess). So I need to auto-repeat it 2 or 3 more times when the crash happens.

Solution 1 : Try using goto ... its old school and can be evil but it might work for you

$crashesn = 0;
START:
try {
    checkNum(2);
    echo 'If you see this, the number is 1 or below';
    break;
} catch ( Exception $e ) {
    $crashesn ++;
    echo "crashes number:" . $crashesn . "<br>";
    if ($crashesn <= 2) {
        sleep(1);
        goto START;
    } else {
        echo "MESSAGE: " . $e->getMessage();
    }
}

Solution 2: just use loop you can also read Performance of try-catch in php

$crashesn = 0;
do {
    try {
        checkNum(2);
        echo 'If you see this, the number is 1 or below';
    } catch ( Exception $e ) {
        $crashesn ++;
        echo "crashes number:" . $crashesn . "<br>";
        if ($crashesn <= 2) {
            sleep(1);
        } else {
            echo "MESSAGE: " . $e->getMessage();
        }
    }
} while ( $crashesn <= 2 );

Both would Output

2
crashes number:1
2
crashes number:2
2
crashes number:3
MESSAGE: Value must be 1 or below