eval {
local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "alarm\n" };       # NB \n required
alarm 5;

my $sock = new Net::SOCKS(socks_addr => $socksserver, socks_port => $socksport, protocol_version => 5);

alarm 0;
};

die if $@ && $@ ne "alarm\n";       # propagate errors

if ($@) {
        print("\nTIME-OUT\n");
}
    else {

my $con = $sock->connect(peer_addr => '10.1.1.3', peer_port => 23);

#other parts of my code.
}