forktest.pl

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use LWP::Simple qw(get);
my $loops = shift || 10;
my $pid;
open (OUT, "+> out");
print "Testing with $loops children...\n";
for my $i (0..$loops-1) {
  if ($pid = fork) { ## Parent 
    $SIG{CHLD} = sub { wait; };
    next;
  }
  if (defined $pid) { ## ...children 
    my ($price,$desc,$dept);
    # So everyone can play along at home:
    my $url ="http://www.perlmonks.org/index.pl?node_id=".(6000+$i);
    my $page = get ($url);
    # extract data to $price,$desc,$dept
    # Now what?
    print OUT "$i $price $desc $dept\n";
    print "$i done\n";
    exit;
  }
  else { 
    die "Fork failed at number $i: $!\n";
  }
}

while <OUT> {
  # get data here?
}
print "I'm done\n";