NAME

Perl::Critic::Policy::Documentation::RequireFinalCut - end POD with =cut directive

DESCRIPTION

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>

COPYRIGHT

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.