---
name: "criticism"
section: "3pm"
platform: "linux"
package: "libcriticism-perl"
version: "1.02-3"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/criticism"
---

# criticism(3pm)

Perl pragma to enforce coding standards and best-practices

## NAME

criticism - Perl pragma to enforce coding standards and best-practices

## SYNOPSIS

```
  use criticism;
  use criticism 'gentle';
  use criticism 'stern';
  use criticism 'harsh';
  use criticism 'cruel';
  use criticism 'brutal';
  use criticism ( -profile => '/foo/bar/perlcriticrc' );
  use criticism ( -severity => 3, -verbose => '%m at %f line %l' );
```

## DESCRIPTION

This pragma enforces coding standards and promotes best-practices by running your file through Perl::Critic before every execution.  In a production system, this usually isn't feasible because it adds a lot of overhead at start-up.  If you have a separate development environment, you can effectively bypass the `"criticism"` pragma by not installing Perl::Critic in the production environment.  If Perl::Critic can't be loaded, then `"criticism"` just fails silently.

Alternatively, the `"perlcritic"` command-line (which is distributed with Perl::Critic) can be used to analyze your files on-demand and has some additional configuration features.  And Test::Perl::Critic provides a nice interface for analyzing files during the build process.

If you'd like to try Perl::Critic without installing anything, there is a web-service available at \<http://perlcritic.com\>.  The web-service does not yet support all the configuration features that are available in the native Perl::Critic API, but it should give you a good idea of what it does. You can also invoke the perlcritic web-service from the command line by doing an HTTP-post, such as one of these:

```
  $> POST http://perlcritic.com/perl/critic.pl < MyModule.pm
  $> lwp-request -m POST http://perlcritic.com/perl/critic.pl < MyModule.pm
  $> wget -q -O - --post-file=MyModule.pm http://perlcritic.com/perl/critic.pl
```

Please note that the perlcritic web-service is still alpha code.  The URL and interface to the service are subject to change.

## CONFIGURATION

If there is **exactly one** import argument, then it is taken to be a named equivalent to one of the numeric severity levels supported by Perl::Critic.  For example, `"use criticism 'gentle';"` is equivalent to setting the `"-severity => 5"`, which reports only the most dangerous violations.  On the other hand, `"use criticism` `'brutal';"` is like setting the `"-severity => 1"`, which reports **every** violation.  If there are no import arguments, then it defaults to `'gentle'`.

If there is more than one import argument, then they will all be passed directly into the Perl::Critic constructor.  So you can use whatever arguments are supported by Perl::Critic.

The `"criticism"` pragma will also obey whatever configurations you have set in your *.perlcriticrc* file.  In particular, setting the `"criticism-fatal"` option to a true value will cause your program to immediately `"die"` if any Perl::Critic violations are found. Otherwise, violations are merely advisory.  This option can be set in the global section at the top of your *.perlcriticrc* file, like this:

```
  # Top of your .perlcriticrc file...
  criticism-fatal = 1
  # per-policy configurations follow...
```

You can also pass `"('-criticism-fatal' => 1)"` as import arguments, just like any other Perl::Critic argument. See "CONFIGURATION" in Perl::Critic for details on the other configuration options.

## DIAGNOSTICS

Usually, the `"criticism"` pragma fails silently if it cannot load Perl::Critic.  So by **not** installing Perl::Critic in your production environment, you can leave the `"criticism"` pragma in your production source code and it will still compile, but it won't be analyzed by Perl::Critic each time it runs.

However, if you set the `"DEBUG"` environment variable to a true value or run your program under the Perl debugger, you will get a warning when `"criticism"` fails to load Perl::Critic.

## NOTES

The `"criticism"` pragma applies to the entire file, so it is not affected by scope or package boundaries and `"use"`-ing it multiple times will just cause it to repeatedly process the same file.  There isn't a reciprocal `"no criticism"` pragma.  However, Perl::Critic does support a pseudo-pragma that directs it to overlook certain lines or blocks of code.  See "BENDING THE RULES" in Perl::Critic for more details.

## AUTHOR

Jeffrey Ryan Thalhammer \<thaljef@cpan.org\>

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2006-2007 Jeffrey Ryan Thalhammer.  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.