NAME

Perl::Critic::Policy::ControlStructures::ProhibitCascadingIfElse - Don't write long "if-elsif-elsif-elsif-elsif...else" chains.

AFFILIATION

This Policy is part of the core Perl::Critic distribution.

DESCRIPTION

Long if-elsif chains are hard to digest, especially if they are longer than a single page or screen. If testing for equality, use a hash lookup instead. If you're using perl 5.10 or later, use given/when.

    if ($condition1) {         #ok
        $foo = 1;
    }
    elsif ($condition2) {      #ok
        $foo = 2;
    }
    elsif ($condition3) {      #ok
        $foo = 3;
    }
    elsif ($condition4) {      #too many!
        $foo = 4;
    }
    else {                     #ok
        $foo = $default;
    }

CONFIGURATION

This policy can be configured with a maximum number of elsif alternatives to allow. The default is 2. This can be specified via a max_elsif item in the .perlcriticrc file:

    [ControlStructures::ProhibitCascadingIfElse]
    max_elsif = 3

AUTHOR

Jeffrey Ryan Thalhammer <jeff@imaginative-software.com>

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2005-2011 Imaginative Software Systems. All rights reserved.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. The full text of this license can be found in the LICENSE file included with this module.