use Net::Telnet; my $telnet = new Net::Telnet ( Timeout=>10, Port=>80, Errmode => 'return' ); $telnet->open("testerrmode.com"); if($telnet->errmsg ) { print "errmsg: " . $telnet->errmsg . "\n"; } else { print "success\n"; } print "moving to next statement\n"; #### use Net::Telnet; eval { my $telnet = new Net::Telnet ( Timeout=>10, Port=>80, Errmode => 'die' ); $telnet->open("testerrmode.com"); }; if($@) { print $@; } else { print "success\n"; } print "moving to next statement\n";