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<h1>saxon:try()</h1>
<p><i>This function is available only in Saxon-EE</i></p>
<p>This function provides a simple way of recovering from dynamic errors (including type
errors). </p>
<p><b>try($arg1 as item()*, $arg2 as item()*) ==> item()*</b></p>
<p>This returns the value of the first argument, unless evaluation of the first argument
fails. If a failure occurs, then the second argument is evaluated and its value is returned.</p>
<p>Here is an example showing the simpler form of call: the expression
<code>saxon:try(1 div 0, "divide by zero")</code> returns the string "divide by zero".</p>
<p>To recover from failures occurring in XSLT instructions, for example schema validation errors,
wrap the instructions in a stylesheet function (<code>xsl:function</code>) and call this function
within a call of <code>saxon:try()</code>.</p>
<div class="boxed"
style="border: solid thin; background-color: #B1CCC7; padding: 2px">The ability to supply a function value as the second argument is withdrawn in Saxon 9.2.</div>
<p><i>In XSLT, a more flexible mechanism for catching errors is the <a class="bodylink" href="../../extensions/instructions/try-instr.xml">saxon:try</a>
extension instruction. In XQuery, a more flexible mechanism is the XQuery 1.1 <code>try{}</code> expression.</i></p>
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