NAME

       Perl::Critic::Policy::ValuesAndExpressions::ProhibitNullStatements - disallow empty
       statements (stray semicolons)

DESCRIPTION

       This policy is part of the "Perl::Critic::Pulp" add-on.  It prohibits empty statements,
       ie. bare ";" semicolons.  This can be a typo doubling up a semi like

           use Foo;;    # bad

       Or a stray left at the end of a control structure like

           if ($foo) {
             print "foo\n";
             return;
           };           # bad

       An empty statement is harmless, so this policy is under the "cosmetic" theme (see "POLICY
       THEMES" in Perl::Critic) and medium severity.  It's surprisingly easy to leave a semi
       behind when chopping code around, especially when changing a statement to a loop or
       conditional.

   Allowed forms
       A C style "for (;;) { ...}" loop is ok.  Those semicolons are expression separators and
       empties there are quite usual.

           for (;;) {   # ok
             print "infinite loop\n";
           }

       A semicolon at the start of a "map" or "grep" block is allowed.  It's commonly used to
       ensure Perl parses it as a block, not an anonymous hash.  (Perl decides at the point it
       parses the "{".  A ";" there forces a block when it might otherwise guess wrongly.  See
       "map" in perlfunc for more on this.)

           map {; $_, 123} @some_list;      # ok

           grep {# this is a block
                 ;                          # ok
                 length $_ and $something } @some_list;

       The "map" form is much more common than the "grep", but both suffer the same ambiguity.
       "grep" doesn't normally inspire people to quite such convoluted forms as "map" does.

   Try/Catch Blocks
       The "Try", "TryCatch" and "Syntax::Feature::Try" modules all add new "try" block statement
       forms.  These statements don't require a terminating semicolon (the same as an "if"
       doesn't require one).  Any semicolon there is reckoned as a null statement.

           use TryCatch;
           sub foo {
             try { attempt_something() }
             catch { error_recovery()  };   # bad
           }

       This doesn't apply to other try modules such as "Try::Tiny" and friends.  They're
       implemented as ordinary function calls (with prototypes), so a terminating semicolon is
       normal for them.

           use Try::Tiny;
           sub foo {
             try { attempt_something() }
             catch { error_recovery()  };   # ok
           }

CONFIGURATION

       "allow_perl4_semihash" (boolean, default false)
           If true then Perl 4 style documentation comments like the following are allowed.

               ;# Usage:
               ;#      require 'mypkg.pl';
               ;#      ...

           The ";" must be at the start of the line.  This is fairly outdated, so it's disabled
           by default.  If you're crunching through some old code you can enable it by adding to
           your .perlcriticrc file

               [ValuesAndExpressions::ProhibitNullStatements]
               allow_perl4_semihash=1

SEE ALSO

       Perl::Critic::Pulp, Perl::Critic, Perl::Critic::Policy::CodeLayout::RequireFinalSemicolon

HOME PAGE

       http://user42.tuxfamily.org/perl-critic-pulp/index.html

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021 Kevin
       Ryde

       Perl-Critic-Pulp is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
       terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation;
       either version 3, or (at your option) any later version.

       Perl-Critic-Pulp is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
       WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
       PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more details.

       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with Perl-Critic-
       Pulp.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

perl v5.32.1              Perl::Critic::Policy::ValuesAndExpressions::ProhibitNullStatements(3pm)