=pod
=head1 Name
Perl::Syntax -- Syntax Check Perl files and strings
=head1 Summary
This module syntax checks Perl files and strings. It is identical
to running C<perl -c ...>, but output doesn't go by default to STDOUT.
You run his like this from a command line:
$ perl -MPerl::Syntax perl-program.pl
$ perl -MPerl::Syntax -e 'your perl code'
which is like:
$ perl -c perl-program.pl 2>/dev/null
$ perl -MPerl::Syntax -e 'your perl code' 2>/dev/null
Or from inside Perl:
system($^X, '-M', 'Perl::Syntax', $perl_program);
system("$^X -M Perl::Syntax $perl_program");
# check $?
By default, no output is produced. You will get a zero return code if
everything checks out or nonzero if there was a syntax error.
To capture output to a file, you can specify a file name by adding an
equal sign after "Perl::Syntax" like this:
perl -MPerl::Syntax=/tmp/output-file.txt perl-program.pl
or inside PerL:
system($^X, '-M', 'Perl::Syntax=/tmp/outfile-file.txt', $perl_program);
File I</tmp/output-file.txt> will have either the messages Perl
normally produces on C<STDERR>:
XXXX syntax OK
or
syntax error at XXXX line DDDD ...
...
=head1 Examples
use English;
my @prefix = ($EXECUTABLE_NAME, '-MPerl::Syntax');
# test this Perl code to see if it is syntactically correct;
system(@prefix, __FILE__);
print "Yep, we're good" unless $? >> 8;
# test of invalid Perl code:
system(@prefix, '-e', '$Incomplete + $Expression +';
print "Try again" if $? >> 8;
# Show capturing output
system($EXECUTABLE_NAME, '-MPerl::Syntax=/tmp/Syntax.log', __FILE__);
# results are in /tmp/Syntax.log
=head1 Bugs/Caveats
There doesn't seem to be much benefit here over using C<perl -c> with
C<STDERR> redirected. What I really want is a kind of eval that just
does the syntax checking.
=head1 Author
Rocky Bernstein
=head1 See Also
C<-c> switch from L<perlrun#Command-Switches>
=head1 Copyright
Copyright (C) 2012 Rocky Bernstein <
[email protected]>
This program is distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, including but not
limited to the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a
particular purpose.
The program is free software. You may distribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
Free Software Foundation (either version 2 or any later version) and
the Perl Artistic License as published by O'Reilly Media, Inc. Please
open the files named gpl-2.0.txt and Artistic for a copy of these
licenses.
=cut
