use warnings;
use strict;

my $time = 2;
my $cmd = 'dir';
my $check = 1;
my $output;

print "check is $check\n";

eval {
        local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die 'timed out'; };
        alarm $time;

        $output = `$cmd`;

        sleep 4;

        $check++;
        alarm 0;
};

if ($@ && $@ =~ /timed out/){
    print "damn command timed out!\n";
}
else {
    print "$output\n";
}

print "check is now $check\n";