zsh: How to store the return code of a statement without triggering `set -e`?

Question

Suppose I want to capture the return code of

(exit 56)

If I use set -e or a zerr handler, I can no longer do:

(exit 56)
ret=$?

If I use (exit 56) || true to avoid set -e, the return code would become zero and I can no longer get it.

So how do I get the return code?

Answer 1

You can use && true instead:

set -o errexit
(exit 50) && true
echo code: $?

Though you could also do:

set -o errexit
if (exit 50) then else
  echo failed with code $?
fi

Or:

set -o errexit
(exit 50) || {
  code=$?
  echo failed with code $code
  # and whatever else you want to do with $code
}

The idea is that errexit is cancelled whenever the failing command is used as a condition, but if you do (exit 50) && true, the exit code after that would always be 0.

^{(personally, I avoid errexit and prefer doing proper error handling by hand).}