NAME

Perl::Critic::Policy::Variables::ProhibitLocalVars - Use "my" instead of "local", except when you have to.

AFFILIATION

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

DESCRIPTION

Since Perl 5, there are very few reasons to declare "local" variables. The most common exceptions are Perl's magical global variables. If you do need to modify one of those global variables, you should localize it first. You should also use the English module to give those variables more meaningful names.

local $foo;   #not ok
my $foo;      #ok
use English qw(-no_match_vars);
local $INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR    #ok
local $RS                        #ok
local $/;                        #not ok

CONFIGURATION

This Policy is not configurable except for the standard options.

NOTES

If an external module uses package variables as its interface, then using "local" is actually a pretty sensible thing to do. So Perl::Critic will not complain if you "local"-ize variables with a fully qualified name such as $Some::Package::foo. However, if you're in a position to dictate the module's interface, I strongly suggest using accessor methods instead.

SEE ALSO

Perl::Critic::Policy::Variables::ProhibitPunctuationVars

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.