Short notation for coffeescript try/catch

Question

I sometimes write code like:

try doSomething() catch e   handleError e 

which is not what nice and clean coffeescript code should look like.

Is there a way to write:

try doSomething() catch e handleError e   #<-- will not compile 

This would save me about 33% of the lines of code in my try/catch statements ;)

Answer 1

Writing try/catch one-liners works like if-then one-liners or loop one-liners using the then keyword:

try doSomething() catch e then handleError e finally cleanUp() 

You can even have it on a single line if you like:

try doSomething() catch e then handleError e finally cleanUp() 

Answer 2

Cross-posting from https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript/issues/2413:

FWIW, I discovered you can write

try    compute something catch error     handle error  unless error?     handle success 

This is possible since CS puts the variable of the catch clause into the surrounding scope, which JS does not do. One might even argue that saying unless error? is clearer than both else (this is not an if clause) and continue (this is not a loop) in that position.

People who insist on oneliners can even write

try compute something catch error then handle error unless error? then handle success 

which is somewhat cool and somewhat unreadable.

A finally clause would have to go before the unless, of course.