-sc_prohibit_can_not:
- @prohibit='\<can[ ]not\>' \
- halt='use "cannot", not "can'' not"' \
- $(_sc_search_regexp)
+# A regular expression matching undesirable combinations of words like
+# "can not"; this matches them even when the two words appear on different
+# lines, but not when there is an intervening delimiter like "#" or "*".
+prohibit_undesirable_word_seq_RE_ ?= \
+ /\bcan\s+not\b/gims
+prohibit_undesirable_word_seq_ = \
+ -e 'while ($(prohibit_undesirable_word_seq_RE_))' \
+ $(perl_filename_lineno_text_)
+# Define this to a regular expression that matches
+# any filename:dd:match lines you want to ignore.
+# The default is to ignore no matches.
+ignore_undesirable_word_sequence_RE_ ?= ^$$
+
+sc_prohibit_undesirable_word_seq:
+ @perl -n -0777 $(prohibit_undesirable_word_seq_) \
+ $$($(VC_LIST_EXCEPT)) \
+ | grep -vE '$(ignore_undesirable_word_sequence_RE_)' | grep . \
+ && { echo '$(ME): undesirable word sequence' >&2; exit 1; } || :