http://qs1969.pair.com?node_id=106168

I often run scripts that have to run for a while and that do not output anything. So I like to see how they are doing, if they are just sitting there waiting for something to happen, or maybe stuck in an infinite loop.

So I use this subroutine to display an indicator of how many times I have been through my main loop on STDOUT.

Its used this way:

  while(...)
    { # whatever you have to do
      progress();
    }

As I use in various situations the main loop can be run any time from a few hundred to several tens of thousand times, so you can pass a parameter or change the DEFAULT_STEP constant to display a dot for every n loops. After 10 dots a space is printed, and after 50 a new line (those values can also be changed).

One last thing: if you want to see the dots displayed as soon as they are generated don't forget to unbuffer the output, for example with $|=1;

Oh and if the features of this progress indicator are not what you are looking for, here is a list of previous nodes on that subject:

{ use constant DEFAULT_STEP => 100; # a DOT is printed every DEFAULT_S +TEP call use constant LINE => 50; # nb of DOT per line use constant BLOCK => 10; # a SPACE is printed after BLOCK D +OTs use constant DOT => '.'; # probably no need to change this use constant SPACE => ' '; # probably no need to change this my( $i, $j); sub progress { my $step= shift || DEFAULT_STEP; $i++; if( $i == $step) { $i=0; print STDOUT DOT; $j++; unless( $j % BLOCK) { print STDOUT SPACE; if( $j == LINE) { $j=0; print STDOUT "\n"; } } } } }