# Instead of this:
# $exp->send( "hostname\n" );
# $exp->expect( $timeout, $shell_prompt );
#
# Try something like this
$exp->send( "echo START_COMMAND; hostname; echo END_COMMAND" );
$exp->expect( $timout,
    [ qr/START_COMMAND\n(.*)END_COMMAND.*?$shell_prompt/,
      sub {}, # do whatever with the data...
    ],
);