sub subroutine {
    foreach (1..4) {
        my $pid= fork;
        die "Can't fork: $!\n"   unless  defined $pid;
        if(  ! $pid  ) {
            # do something here 
            exit(0);
        }
    }
    foreach (1..4) {
        wait();
        print "$_ child finished; status is: $?\n";
    }
}

##</code><code>##

#!/s/t/tye/bin/perl -w
use strict;

subroutine( @ARGV );
exit( 0 );

sub subroutine {
    local( $| )= 1;
    foreach (1..4) {
        my $pid= fork;
        die "Can't fork: $!\n"   unless  defined $pid;
        if(  ! $pid  ) {
            sleep( $_[$_-1] );
            exit(0);
        } else {
            print "Started child $pid...\n";
        }
    }
    foreach (1..4) {
        my $pid= wait();
        print "$_ child ($pid) finished; status is: $?\n";
    }
}
# Usage:  fork4 6 4 8 2