#!/usr/bin/perl

open (FTP, "|ftp") || (die "Couldn't fork process");
print FTP "open my.email.server\n";
print FTP "my_userid\n";
print FTP "my_password\n";
print FTP "lcd /windows/desktop\n";
print FTP "get /var/mail/userid\n";  #location of my inbox
print FTP "bye\n";
close FTP;