NAME

Perl::Critic::Policy::RegularExpressions::RequireDotMatchAnything - Always use the /s modifier with regular expressions.

AFFILIATION

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

DESCRIPTION

When asked what . in a regular expression means, most people will say that it matches any character, which isn't true. It's actually shorthand for [^\n]. Using the s modifier makes . act like people expect it to.

my $match = m< foo.bar >xm;  # not ok
my $match = m< foo.bar >xms; # ok

CONFIGURATION

This Policy is not configurable except for the standard options.

NOTES

Be cautions about slapping modifier flags onto existing regular expressions, as they can drastically alter their meaning. See http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=484238 for an interesting discussion on the effects of blindly modifying regular expression flags.

AUTHOR

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

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2005-2010 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.