#!/usr/bin/perl 
use strict;
use warnings;

use Net::Telnet ();
my $t = new Net::Telnet (Timeout => 10,
                      Prompt => '/host\@user ~\/');

my ($username, $passwd) = qw(user password);
$t->open("host");
$t->login($username, $passwd);

my @distro = $t->cmd(String => "cat /etc/redhat-release",
			cmd_remove_mode => '1');
print "@distro";

##</code><code>##

$ ./connect.pl
 $ cat /etc/redhat-release
 CentOS release 5 (Final)

##</code><code>##

my @distro = $t->cmd(String => "cat /etc/redhat-release",
			cmd_remove_mode => '2');