call POD::Perldoc as help

Skeeve has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

What do you think about calling POD::Perldoc as a help function? I currently add some POD to my script and want to use this help function

use POD::Perldoc;

sub help {
   exit( Pod::Perldoc->run(args=>[$0]) );
}
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I'd love to hear your thoughts about it.

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Re: call POD::Perldoc as help
by PodMaster (Abbot) on Sep 26, 2004 at 14:42 UTC

Pod::Usage

Tutorials

The Dynamic Duo --or-- Holy Getopt::Long, Pod::UsageMan!

MJD says "you can't just make shit up and expect the computer to know what you mean, retardo!"
I run a Win32 PPM repository for perl 5.6.x and 5.8.x -- I take requests (README).
** The third rule of perl club is a statement of fact: pod is sexy.

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Re: call POD::Perldoc as help
by Aristotle (Chancellor) on Sep 26, 2004 at 15:31 UTC

Indeed, Pod::Usage is what you want. My scripts generally use that and Getopt::Long (see PodMaster's link), and start out with the following incantation:

GetOptions(
    'h|help'  => sub { pod2usage( -verbose => 1 ) },
    'man'     => sub { pod2usage( -verbose => 2 ) },
    # ...
) or pod2usage();
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Makeshifts last the longest.

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[d/l]

Re: call POD::Perldoc as help
by educated_foo (Vicar) on Sep 26, 2004 at 14:18 UTC

How many screenfuls of output is it? IMHO the --help or usage error message should fit in one 80x24 window, while the developer documentation for your module likely won't.