use IO::Socket;

$sock = new IO::Socket::INET( PeerAddr => 'localhost',  # an IP here and the script fails to connect
                              PeerPort => 1200,
                              Proto    => 'tcp' );
die "Socket could not be created: $!\n" unless $sock;

$msg = <STDIN>;
while ( $msg !~ m/^\n$/ ) {
    $inp = $msg;
    undef( $msg );
    print $sock "MSG: $inp";
    $sock->flush();
    $msg = <STDIN>;
}

close( $sock );