#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;
use Expect;

print("STDIN is not a terminal, running xterm\n"), exec ('xterm', '-e', $^X, $0, @ARGV) unless -t STDIN;
print "Surely running in a terminal\n";

my $expect = Expect::->spawn("/bin/sh") or die "bash: $!\n";
$expect->expect(1,"\$ "); # expect a command line prompt
$expect->send("ls\n");
$expect->expect(1,"ls\r\n"); # sh echoes the entered command, so I have to expect() it back
# need to play with $expect->slave->stty() to get rid of \r
$expect->expect(1,"\$ "); # expect another command line prompt meaning that the command succeeded
my $result = $expect->before(); # catch everything in between the echoed "ls" and new prompt
$expect->send("exit\n"); # terminate the shell properly
$expect->soft_close;

print "Gathered output: BEGIN\n$result\nEND\n";