---
name: "Perl::Critic::Utils::PPI"
section: "3pm"
platform: "linux"
package: "perl-perl-critic"
version: "1.156-3"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/Perl::Critic::Utils::PPI"
---

# Perl::Critic::Utils::PPI(3pm)

Utility functions for dealing with PPI objects.

## NAME

Perl::Critic::Utils::PPI - Utility functions for dealing with PPI objects.

## DESCRIPTION

Provides classification of PPI::Elements.

## INTERFACE SUPPORT

This is considered to be a public module.  Any changes to its interface will go through a deprecation cycle.

## IMPORTABLE SUBS

- is\_ppi\_expression\_or\_generic\_statement( $element )

  Answers whether the parameter is an expression or an undifferentiated statement.  I.e. the parameter either is a PPI::Statement::Expression or the class of the parameter is PPI::Statement and not one of its subclasses other than `"Expression"`.

- is\_ppi\_generic\_statement( $element )

  Answers whether the parameter is an undifferentiated statement, i.e. the parameter is a PPI::Statement but not one of its subclasses.

- is\_ppi\_statement\_subclass( $element )

  Answers whether the parameter is a specialized statement, i.e. the parameter is a PPI::Statement but the class of the parameter is not PPI::Statement.

- is\_ppi\_simple\_statement( $element )

  Answers whether the parameter represents a simple statement, i.e. whether the parameter is a PPI::Statement, PPI::Statement::Break, PPI::Statement::Include, PPI::Statement::Null, PPI::Statement::Package, or PPI::Statement::Variable.

- is\_ppi\_constant\_element( $element )

  Answers whether the parameter represents a constant value, i.e. whether the parameter is a PPI::Token::Number, PPI::Token::Quote::Literal, PPI::Token::Quote::Single, or PPI::Token::QuoteLike::Words, or is a PPI::Token::Quote::Double or PPI::Token::Quote::Interpolate which does not in fact contain any interpolated variables.

  This subroutine does **not** interpret any form of here document as a constant value, and may not until PPI::Token::HereDoc acquires the relevant portions of the PPI::Token::Quote interface.

  This subroutine also does **not** interpret entities created by the Readonly module or the constant pragma as constants, because the infrastructure to detect these appears not to be present, and the author of this subroutine (**not** Mr. Shank or Mr. Thalhammer) lacks the knowledge/expertise/gumption to put it in place.

- is\_subroutine\_declaration( $element )

  Is the parameter a subroutine declaration, named or not?

- is\_in\_subroutine( $element )

  Is the parameter a subroutine or inside one?

- get\_constant\_name\_element\_from\_declaring\_statement($statement)

  **This subroutine is deprecated.** You should use "**get\_constant\_name\_elements\_from\_declaring\_statement()**" in PPIx::Utils::Traversal instead.

  Given a PPI::Statement, if the statement is a `"use` `constant"` or Readonly declaration statement, return the name of the thing being defined.

  Given

  ```
      use constant 1.16 FOO => 'bar';
  ```

  this will return "FOO".  Similarly, given

  ```
      Readonly::Hash my %FOO => ( bar => 'baz' );
  ```

  this will return "%FOO".

  **Caveat:** in the case where multiple constants are declared using the same `"use constant"` statement (e.g. `"use constant { FOO => 1, BAR => 2 };"`), this subroutine will return the declaring PPI::Structure::Constructor. In the case of `"use constant 1.16 { FOO => 1, BAR => 2 };"` it may return a PPI::Structure::Block instead of a PPI::Structure::Constructor, due to a parse error in PPI.

- get\_next\_element\_in\_same\_simple\_statement( $element )

  Given a PPI::Element, this subroutine returns the next element in the same simple statement as defined by **is\_ppi\_simple\_statement()**. If no next element can be found, this subroutine simply returns.

  If the `$element` is undefined or unblessed, we simply return.

  If the `$element` satisfies `is_ppi_simple_statement()`, we return, **unless** it has a parent which is a PPI::Structure::List.

  If the `$element` is the last significant element in its PPI::Node, we replace it with its parent and iterate again.

  Otherwise, we return `"$element->snext_sibling()"`.

- get\_previous\_module\_used\_on\_same\_line( $element )

  Given a PPI::Element, returns the PPI::Element representing the name of the module included by the previous `"use"` or `"require"` on the same line as the `$element`. If none is found, simply returns.

  For example, with the line

  ```
      use version; our $VERSION = ...;
  ```

  given the PPI::Token::Symbol instance for `$VERSION`, this will return "version".

  If the given element is in a `"use"` or \<require\>, the return is from the previous `"use"` or `"require"` on the line, if any.

## AUTHOR

Elliot Shank \<perl@galumph.com\>

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2007-2011 Elliot Shank.

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.