How to run perl critic from a script with ProhibitExcessComplexity enabled?

Question

How do I run Perl critic from a script with Subroutines::ProhibitExcessComplexity enabled ? I tried the following but it wasn't flagging complex 500+ line subroutines. I do not have a .perlcriticrc(Neither do I want one to be there)

use Perl::Critic;

run_critic('temp.pl');
exit;

sub run_critic {
    my $file   = shift;
    my $critic = Perl::Critic->new(
        -severity => 5,
        -policy   => 'Subroutines::ProhibitExcessComplexity',
        -verbose  => 5,
    );
    my @violations = $critic->critique($file);
    print @violations;
}

My Perl::Critic version is 1.116

perl -MPerl::Critic -e 'print "$Perl::Critic::VERSION\n"'
1.116

Answer 1

View the loaded Policies

To view the policies that are actually loaded, use Perl::Critic->policies.

policies()

Returns a list containing references to all the Policy objects that have been loaded into this engine. Objects will be in the order that they were loaded. If you view your policies, you can see it's not being added:

You will see your desired policy isn't added to the list:

use strict;
use warnings;

use Perl::Critic;

run_critic($0);
exit;

sub run_critic {
    my $file   = shift;
    my $critic = Perl::Critic->new(
        -severity => 5,
        -policy   => 'Subroutines::ProhibitExcessComplexity',
        -verbose  => 5,
    );
    print $critic->policies();      # View loaded Policies

    my @violations = $critic->critique($file);
    print @violations;
}

Outputs:

BuiltinFunctions::ProhibitSleepViaSelect
BuiltinFunctions::ProhibitStringyEval
BuiltinFunctions::RequireGlobFunction
ClassHierarchies::ProhibitOneArgBless
ControlStructures::ProhibitMutatingListFunctions
InputOutput::ProhibitBarewordFileHandles
InputOutput::ProhibitInteractiveTest
InputOutput::ProhibitTwoArgOpen
InputOutput::RequireEncodingWithUTF8Layer
Modules::ProhibitEvilModules
Modules::RequireBarewordIncludes
Modules::RequireFilenameMatchesPackage
Subroutines::ProhibitExplicitReturnUndef       
Subroutines::ProhibitNestedSubs
Subroutines::ProhibitReturnSort
Subroutines::ProhibitSubroutinePrototypes
TestingAndDebugging::ProhibitNoStrict
TestingAndDebugging::RequireUseStrict
ValuesAndExpressions::ProhibitLeadingZeros
Variables::ProhibitConditionalDeclarations
Variables::RequireLexicalLoopIterators

Proper Configuration option: -include

The problem is that the Constructor option -policy does not exist.

Instead you want to use -include:

-include is a reference to a list of string @PATTERNS. Policy modules that match at least one m/$PATTERN/ixms will always be loaded, irrespective of all other settings. For example:

Therefore fixing your constructor:

    my $critic = Perl::Critic->new(
        -severity => 5,
        -include  => 'Subroutines::ProhibitExcessComplexity',
        -verbose  => 5,
    );

Outputs:

BuiltinFunctions::ProhibitSleepViaSelect
BuiltinFunctions::ProhibitStringyEval
BuiltinFunctions::RequireGlobFunction
ClassHierarchies::ProhibitOneArgBless
ControlStructures::ProhibitMutatingListFunctions
InputOutput::ProhibitBarewordFileHandles
InputOutput::ProhibitInteractiveTest
InputOutput::ProhibitTwoArgOpen
InputOutput::RequireEncodingWithUTF8Layer
Modules::ProhibitEvilModules
Modules::RequireBarewordIncludes
Modules::RequireFilenameMatchesPackage
Subroutines::ProhibitExcessComplexity           # <--- ta da
Subroutines::ProhibitExplicitReturnUndef
Subroutines::ProhibitNestedSubs
Subroutines::ProhibitReturnSort
Subroutines::ProhibitSubroutinePrototypes
TestingAndDebugging::ProhibitNoStrict
TestingAndDebugging::RequireUseStrict
ValuesAndExpressions::ProhibitLeadingZeros
Variables::ProhibitConditionalDeclarations
Variables::RequireLexicalLoopIterators