#ignore lines not being added
                next if ($line =~ /^[^\+]/);
 
+# check for dereferences that span multiple lines
+               if ($prevline =~ /^\+.*$Lval\s*(?:\.|->)\s*$/ &&
+                   $line =~ /^\+\s*(?!\#\s*(?!define\s+|if))\s*$Lval/) {
+                       $prevline =~ /($Lval\s*(?:\.|->))\s*$/;
+                       my $ref = $1;
+                       $line =~ /^.\s*($Lval)/;
+                       $ref .= $1;
+                       $ref =~ s/\s//g;
+                       WARN("MULTILINE_DEREFERENCE",
+                            "Avoid multiple line dereference - prefer '$ref'\n" . $hereprev);
+               }
+
 # check for declarations of signed or unsigned without int
                while ($line =~ m{\b($Declare)\s*(?!char\b|short\b|int\b|long\b)\s*($Ident)?\s*[=,;\[\)\(]}g) {
                        my $type = $1;