NAME

Perl::Critic::Policy::Documentation::RequireEndBeforeLastPod - require __END__ before POD at end of file

DESCRIPTION

This policy is part of the Perl::Critic::Pulp add-on. It requires that you put an __END__ before POD which is at the end of a file. For example,

    program_code();
    1;
    __END__     # good

    =head1 NAME
    ...

and not merely

    program_code();
    1;          # bad

    =head1 NAME
    ...

This is primarily a matter of personal preference, so the policy is low severity and only under the "cosmetic" theme (see "POLICY THEMES" in Perl::Critic). An __END__ like this has no effect on execution, but it's a fairly common convention since it's a good human indication you mean the code to end there, and it stops Perl parsing through the POD which may save a few nanoseconds.

This policy is looser than Documentation::RequirePodAtEnd. This policy allows POD to be anywhere in among the code, the requirement is only that if the file ends with POD then you should have an __END__ between the last code and last POD.

A file of all POD, or all code, or which ends with code, is ok. Ending with code is usual if you write your POD at the start of the file or in among the functions etc,

    =pod

    And that's all.

    =cut

    cleanup ();
    exit 0;     # good

A file using __DATA__ is always ok, since you can't have __END__ followed by __DATA__, wherever you want your POD. If the __DATA__ is in fact SelfLoader code then it can helpfully have an __END__ within it, but as of perlcritic version 1.092 no checks at all are applied to SelfLoader sections.

Disabling

As always if you don't care about __END__ you can disable RequireEndBeforeLastPod from your .perlcriticrc in the usual way (see "CONFIGURATION" in Perl::Critic),

    [-Documentation::RequireEndBeforeLastPod]

SEE ALSO

Perl::Critic::Pulp, Perl::Critic, Perl::Critic::Policy::Documentation::RequirePodAtEnd

HOME PAGE

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

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021 Kevin Ryde

Perl-Critic-Pulp is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option) any later version.

Perl-Critic-Pulp is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with Perl-Critic-Pulp. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.