#see which filehandles have output from perldoc -q filehandle 
      $esize = pack("L", 0);
      ioctl(\*ERROR, FIONREAD(), $esize) or die "Couldn't call ioctl: $!\n";
      $esize = unpack("L", $esize);
      print "esize-> $esize\n" unless ($esize < 1);

      $rsize = pack("L", 0);
      ioctl(\*READ, FIONREAD(), $rsize) or die "Couldn't call ioctl: $!\n";
      $rsize = unpack("L", $rsize);
      print "rsize-> $rsize\n" unless ($rsize <1);

     #get the output from bc 
     if($esize > 0){sysread(ERROR,$error,$esize); $errortot = $errortot.$error}
     if($rsize > 0){sysread(READ,$answer,$rsize); $answertot = $answertot.$answer}
    } until(($esize > 0)or(($rsize > 0)and($rsize < 4060)));