Test::PerlTidy(3)

NAME
Test::PerlTidy - check that all your files are tidy.

VERSION
version 20260110

SYNOPSIS
    # In a file like 't/perltidy.t':

    use Test::PerlTidy qw( run_tests );

    run_tests();

DESCRIPTION
This rather unflattering comment was made in a piece by Ken Arnold:

    "Perl is a vast swamp of lexical and syntactic swill and nobody
    knows how to format even their own code well, but it's the only
    major language I can think of (with the possible exception of the
    recent, yet very Java-like C#) that doesn't have at least one
    style that's good enough."
              http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=74230

Hmmm... He is sort of right in a way. Then again the piece he wrote was related to Python which is somewhat strict about formatting itself.

Fear not though - now you too can have your very own formatting gestapo in the form of Test::PerlTidy! Simply add a test file as suggested above and any file ending in .pl, .pm, .t or .PL will cause a test fail unless it is exactly as perltidy would like it to be.

REASONS TO DO THIS
If the style is mandated in tests then it will be adhered to.

If perltidy decides what is a good style then there should be no quibbling.

If the style never changes then cvs diffs stop catching changes that are not really there.

Readability might even improve.

HINTS
If you want to change the default style then muck around with '.perltidyrc';

To quickly make a file work then try 'perltidy -b the_messy_file.pl'.

HOW IT WORKS
Runs perltidy on files and reports errors if any of the files differ after having been tidied. Does not permanently modify the files being tested.

By default, perltidy will be run on files under the current directory and its subdirectories with extensions matching: ".pm .pl .PL .t"

METHODS

  run_tests ( [ %args ] )
This is the main entry point for running tests.

A number of options can be specified when running the tests, e.g.:

    run_tests(
              path       => $start_dir,
              perltidyrc => $path_to_config_file,
              exclude    => [ qr{\.t$}, 'inc/'],
    );

debug
    Set "debug" to a true value to enable additional diagnostic output, in particular info about any processing done as a result of specifying the "exclude" option. Default is false.

exclude
    run_tests() will look for files to test under the current directory and its subdirectories. By default, it will exclude files in the ""./blib/"" directory. Set "exclude" to a listref of exclusion criteria if you need to specify additional rules by which files will be excluded.

    If an item in the "exclude" list is a string, e.g. ""./blib/"", it will be assumed to be a path prefix. Files will be excluded if that string matches their path at the beginning.

    If an item in the "exclude" list is a regex object, e.g. ""qr{\.t$}"", files will be excluded if that regex matches their path.

    Note that the paths of files to be tested are canonified using File::Spec"->canonpath" before any matching is attempted, which can impact how the exclusion rules apply. If your exclusion rules do not seem to be working, turn on the "debug" option to see the paths of the files that are being kept/excluded.

path
    Set "path" to the path to the top-level directory which contains the files to be tested. Defaults to the current directory (i.e. ""."").

perltidyrc
    By default, perltidy will attempt to read its options from the .perltidyrc file on your system. Set "perltidyrc" to the path to a custom file if you would like to control the perltidy options used during testing.

mute
    By default, run_tests() will output diagnostics about any errors reported by perltidy, as well as any actual differences found between the pre-tidied and post-tidied files. Set "mute" to a true value to turn off that diagnostic output.

skip_all
    Set "skip_all" to a true value to skip all tests. Default is false.

perltidy_options
    Pass these to Perl::Tidy::perltidy(). (Added in version 20200411 .)

  list_files ( [ start_path | %args ] )
Generate the list of files to be tested. Generally not called directly.

  load_file ( path_to_file )
Load the file to be tested from disk and return the contents. Generally not called directly.

  is_file_tidy ( path_to_file [ , path_to_perltidyrc ] [, $named_args] )
Test if a file is tidy or not. Generally not called directly.

$named_args can be a hash ref which may have a key called 'perltidy_options' that refers to a hash ref of options that will be passed to Perl::Tidy::perltidy(). ($named_args was added in version 20200411).

SEE ALSO
Perl::Tidy

ORIGINAL AUTHOR
Edmund von der Burg, "<evdb at ecclestoad.co.uk>"

CONTRIBUTORS
Duncan J. Ferguson, "<duncan_j_ferguson at yahoo.co.uk>"

Stephen, "<stephen at enterity.com>"

Larry Leszczynski, "<larryl at cpan.org>"

Shlomi Fish, <https://www.shlomifish.org/>

SUGGESTIONS
Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.

<http://ecclestoad.co.uk/>

COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2007 Edmund von der Burg, all rights reserved.

LICENSE
This library is free software . You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as perl itself.

SUPPORT

  Websites
The following websites have more information about this module, and may be of help to you. As always, in addition to those websites please use your favorite search engine to discover more resources.

•   MetaCPAN

    A modern, open-source CPAN search engine, useful to view POD in HTML format.

    <https://metacpan.org/release/Test-PerlTidy>

•   RT: CPAN's Bug Tracker

    The RT ( Request Tracker ) website is the default bug/issue tracking system for CPAN.

    <https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Test-PerlTidy>

•   CPANTS

    The CPANTS is a website that analyzes the Kwalitee ( code metrics ) of a distribution.

    <http://cpants.cpanauthors.org/dist/Test-PerlTidy>

•   CPAN Testers

    The CPAN Testers is a network of smoke testers who run automated tests on uploaded CPAN distributions.

    <http://www.cpantesters.org/distro/T/Test-PerlTidy>

•   CPAN Testers Matrix

    The CPAN Testers Matrix is a website that provides a visual overview of the test results for a distribution on various Perls/platforms.

    <http://matrix.cpantesters.org/?dist=Test-PerlTidy>

•   CPAN Testers Dependencies

    The CPAN Testers Dependencies is a website that shows a chart of the test results of all dependencies for a distribution.

    <http://deps.cpantesters.org/?module=Test::PerlTidy>

  Bugs / Feature Requests
Please report any bugs or feature requests by email to "bug-test-perltidy at rt.cpan.org", or through the web interface at <https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Bug/Report.html?Queue=Test-PerlTidy>. You will be automatically notified of any progress on the request by the system.

  Source Code
The code is open to the world, and available for you to hack on. Please feel free to browse it and play with it, or whatever. If you want to contribute patches, please send me a diff or prod me to pull from your repository :)

<https://github.com/shlomif/test-perltidy>

  git clone https://github.com/shlomif/Test-PerlTidy

AUTHOR
Shlomi Fish <shlomif@cpan.org>

BUGS
Please report any bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website <https://github.com/shlomif/test-perltidy/issues>

When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This software is copyright (c) 2026 by Edmund von der Burg.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.