#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.

#AUTHOR

Jeffrey Ryan Thalhammer <jeff@imaginative-software.com>

#COPYRIGHT

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.

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