Perl::Critic::Policy::Documentation::RequireFinalCut(3pm)

Overview

This policy is part of the "Perl::Critic::Pulp" add-on. It asks you to end POD with a "=cut" directive at the end of a file.

    =head1 DOCO
    Some text.
    =cut             # ok

The idea is to have a definite end indication for human readers. Perl and the POD processors don't require a final "=cut". On that basis this policy is lowest severity and under the "cosmetic" theme (see "POLICY THEMES" in Perl::Critic).

If there's no POD in the file then a "=cut" is not required. Or if the file ends with code rather than POD then a "=cut" after that code is not required.

    =head2 About foo
    =cut
    sub foo {
    }              # ok, file ends with code not POD

If there's POD at end of file but consists only of "=begin/=end" blocks then a "=cut" is not required. It's reckoned the "=end" is enough in this case.

    =begin wikidoc
    Entire document in wiki style.
    =end wikidoc          # ok, =cut not required

If the file ends with a mixture of ordinary POD and "=begin" blocks then a is still required. The special allowance is when only "=begin" blocks, presumably destined for some other markup system.

Blank Line

Generally a "=cut" should have a blank line before it, the same as other POD commands. But Perl execution doesn't enforce that and the same looseness is permitted here,

    =pod
    Blah blah blah
    =cut                  # ok without preceding newline

A check for blanks around POD commands is left to other policies. The "podchecker" program reports this (Pod::Checker).

Disabling

If you don't care about a final "=cut" you can disable "RequireFinalCut" from your .perlcriticrc in the usual way (see "CONFIGURATION" in Perl::Critic),

    [-Documentation::RequireFinalCut]

Home page

<http://user42.tuxfamily.org/perl-critic-pulp/index.html>

Releases

4 releases since Debian 10 (Buster); the text changed 1 time.

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