Thank you for taking the time to write to us, but this is not
a bug. Please double-check the documentation available at
http://www.php.net/manual/ and the instructions on how to report
a bug at http://bugs.php.net/how-to-report.php

.

why is not a bug?
this is an abnormal behavior, that restricts how you use the exception class. if the "try block" can't force an erroreneous code to compile, why do you have the "try" keyword anyway? the "throw" keyword could be used outside a "try block" and also in a "catch block" or anywhere else in the program. in a nutshell, the "try" keyword has no function at all in php, if it does, what is it?

the documentation at php.net does not explain the function of the "try" keyword in php.

<?php
   $e="there is an error";
 try{
      throw new Exception ($e);//the throw can exist outside the try 
                               //block (or simply, almost anywhere)
    }
 try{
      $err=34/0;//the compiler should ignore this error
                //it is legal because it is in a try block
     }
    $error=34/0;//the compiler should act on this error
 ?>             //this error is illegal

  however zend engine will flag the error in the second try block
  (an abnormal behavior) instead of ignoring it.

note: when flagging other posters comments as bogus, give logical reasons for doing so.

Thank you for taking the time to write to us, but this is not
a bug. Please double-check the documentation available at
http://www.php.net/manual/ and the instructions on how to report
a bug at http://bugs.php.net/how-to-report.php

Fatal errors are not exceptions and therefor try {} does nothing to 
catch them.

well the logic behind exceptions is to help you handle ALL types of errors and i will show you a similar example in python.

 python code:

 num=input('enter a number, do not enter zero:)
 try:
     print 34/int(num)
 except ZeroDivisionError:
     print "error,you entered zero"

 (if you enter 2) output: 17

 (if you enter 0) output: error, you entered zero
 
  #java does exactly the same thing.
 

simple code, i didn't have to explicitly throw any exception (using the throw keyword) or include an "if" statement. this obeys the rule of keep things simple, and the "try" keyword actually does something, as opposed to being a mere decoration as it is now in PHP.

correction= 
   for the first line of the python code in the post before this one.
   
   # add qoutes to the parameter in the function 'input()' 
   num=input("enter a number, do not enter zero:")


 the c programming language and other procedural languages can catch errors just like object oriented laguages that use exceptions, if the "try" keyword cannot force the compiler to overlook errors, then you have to use an "if" statement, just like in "c" and actually write more code. but if the "try" can suppress errors, you don't have to include "if" statements and the "throw" keyword, you just write "catch" statements that can catch each exception and error at runtime, and then you can continue you code without stopping it or allow the program to stop after sending a customized message on your site, rather than have your site or program crash.  you just explicitly throw an exception that closes the program, after sending a customized message for fatal errors simple. 
**********************************************************************
to iliaa@php.net, a zero division error is an exception, it is not a fatal error, fatal errors require that you reset the program.they are errors that should not be caught such as linkage errors and thread death errors and some machine errors. the program should be allowed to end gracefully but could still catch them if you wish.

Even though exceptions might be normalities in java and other languages they keep having anexceptional role in PHP and stay theway they are. In fact PHP is not a pure OO based language and needs to be able to deal with its core errors in a non object oriented way. Further more PHP is not perectly designed for applications have long run times but for web share nothing web applications where the runtime depends on the time a script needs to finish a request. For that reason a core error simply needs to be logged rather than having a control mechanism that reinitializes whatever should be running.

to helly@php.net, thank you for your reasonable explanation.