NAME

       Perl::Critic::Policy::Community::Wantarray - Don't write context-sensitive functions using
       wantarray

DESCRIPTION

       Context-sensitive functions, while one way to write functions that DWIM (Do What I Mean),
       tend to instead lead to unexpected behavior when the function is accidentally used in a
       different context, especially if the function's behavior changes significantly based on
       context. This also can lead to vulnerabilities when a function is intended to be used as a
       scalar, but is used in a list, such as a hash constructor or function parameter list.
       Instead, functions should be explicitly documented to return either a scalar value or a
       list, so there is no potential for confusion or vulnerability.

         return wantarray ? ('a','b','c') : 3; # not ok
         return CORE::wantarray ? ('a', 'b', 'c') : 3; # not ok
         return ('a','b','c');                 # ok
         return 3;                             # ok

         sub get_stuff {
           return wantarray ? @things : \@things;
         }
         my $stuff = Stuff->new(stuff => get_stuff()); # oops! function will return a list!

AFFILIATION

       This policy is part of Perl::Critic::Community.

CONFIGURATION

       This policy is not configurable except for the standard options.

AUTHOR

       Dan Book, "dbook@cpan.org"

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

       Copyright 2015, Dan Book.

       This library is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of
       the Artistic License version 2.0.

SEE ALSO

       Perl::Critic

perl v5.34.0                                2022-0Perl::Critic::Policy::Community::Wantarray(3pm)