#!/usr/bin/perl
open PIPE, "/usr/local/bin/top -b -n 3 |" or die "Cannot open";
my $output = join '', <PIPE>;
close PIPE or die "Running top failed";
print "$output\n";
exit(0);

##</code><code>##

load averages:  0.26,  0.24,  0.30    16:02:45
171 processes: 168 sleeping, 1 running, 1 zombie, 1 on cpu
 
Memory: 1024M real, 767M free, 92M swap in use, 1732M swap free
 
 
  PID USERNAME THR PRI NICE  SIZE   RES STATE   TIME    CPU COMMAND
 6451 pc2587     1  11    0  984K  704K sleep   0:26  5.36% br
 5983 dw3586     1  48    0  984K  704K sleep   1:19  0.35% br
 5962 dw3586     1  48    0  984K  704K sleep   1:39  0.35% br