podchecker Command in Linux

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The podchecker command in Linux checks the syntax of POD documentation or sections embedded in the Perl scripts. It scans input files for POD syntax errors and outputs any issues to STDERR. At the end, it provides a status message with the error count. It skips directories and displays a warning when encountered.

Table of Contents

Here is a comprehensive guide to the options available with the podchecker command −

• Syntax of podchecker Command
• podchecker Command Options
• Examples of podchecker Command in Linux

Syntax of podchecker Command

podchecker [options] [file...]

The [options] field in the above syntax is used to specify various options to get customized behavior. The [file...] field is used to specify one or more files to check for POD syntax errors.

podchecker Command Options

The options for the podchecker command are listed below −

Examples of podchecker Command in Linux

This section focuses on the usage of the podchecker command in Linux with examples.

Checking Embedded POD Documentation Syntax of a Perl Script

The script must contain POD documentation to use the podchecker command to ensure the accuracy of embedded POD documentation. A sample Perl script with embedded POD documentation is as follows −

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

print "Hello, Tutorialspoint!\n";

__END__

=head1 NAME

file.pl - A simple Perl script with embedded POD documentation

=head1 SYNOPSIS

	perl file.pl

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This script shows how to embed POD documentation within a Perl file. It prints "Hello, Tutorialspoint!" to the console.

=head1 AUTHOR

Name <your.email@example.com>

=head1 LICENSE

This script is free software; redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

=cut

In the above script, POD begins after __END__. Perl ignores everything from these points onward unless it is a valid POD.

To check the POD syntax error in the above script, use the podchecker command with the script file name −

podchecker file.pl

If there are no errors, the output displays syntax OK with the script file name.

In case of warnings, the output would be like this −

The output mentions syntax OK despite the warning, it indicates that the overall structure of the POD is valid. Warnings highlight potential formatting or logical issues, not critical syntax errors.

Enabling or Disabling Warnings

To disable the warnings, use the -nowarnings option −

podchecker -nowarnings file.pl

To enable warnings if they have been disabled, use the -warnings option −

podchecker -warnings file.pl

Repeating -warnings increases the level of warnings, where each subsequent level flags more specific issues in the POD syntax −

podchecker -warnings -warnings file.pl

The above command increases the warning level to 2. At this level, the podchecker will flag additional issues, such as unescaped < and > characters, which could cause formatting problems. Each warning level is cumulative, and the higher the level, the more detailed the checks.

Displaying Manual Page

To display the manual page of the podchecker command, use the -man option −

podchecker -man

To quit the manual page, press the q/Q button.

Displaying Usage Help

To display usage help of the podchecker command, use the -help option −

podchecker -help

Conclusion

The podchecker command in Linux is used to check the syntax of POD documentation in Perl scripts. It scans files for syntax errors, reporting any issues found while skipping directories and issuing warnings when necessary.

Using the podchecker command on a Perl script verifies the syntax and structure of embedded POD documentation and provides feedback on any potential issues or errors in the script's documentation.