my $cmd = 'ps efax 2>/dev/null|grep firstbo|grep -v grep|wc -l';

my $stat = $ssh->exec($cmd);
	print "Before chomp: " , length($cmd);
		print "|".$stat."|";
		chop $stat;
		print "|".$stat."|";
print "After chomp: " , length($cmd);
##</code><code>##

#!/usr/bin/perl
use Net::SSH::Expect;
use YAML;
use Data::Dumper;
use warnings;
use strict;
use diagnostics;

#####################
# process the input
#####################
my $in = YAML::LoadFile('test_input.yml');

my $version   = $in->{test_instance}{version};
my $build     = $in->{test_instance}{build};
my $host_data = $in->{host}[0];
my $modelnum  = $host_data->{model_number};
my $company   = $host_data->{company};
my $address   = $host_data->{address};

#print Dumper($address), "\n";

my $ssh = Net::SSH::Expect->new(
	ssh_option => "-v -v -v",
	#ssh_option => "-v",
	#host       => $address,
	host => "baseline-dc1",
	#host => "upgrade-dc1",
	#host => "upgrade-3d1",
	#host  => "baseline-3d1",
	#host => "batterup-dc2",
	user     => 'admin',
	#password => 'OPTIONAL',
	raw_pty  => 1,
	#timeout => 2,
	log_stdout     => 1,
	    ssh_option => '-o StrictHostKeyChecking=no '
	  . '-o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null '
	  . '-o LogLevel=ERROR'
);
$ssh->run_ssh();
#$ssh->exec("stty raw -echo");
        $ssh->send("sudo -i");
        $ssh->waitfor('Password:', 3);
        $ssh->send("password");


    my $catschedular = $ssh->exec("cat /sys/block/sda/queue/scheduler");
    my $echoconf = $ssh->exec("echo '/usr/lib/bigloo/3.1a' >> /etc/ld.so.conf");

my $stat = $ssh->exec("ps efax 2>/dev/null|grep firstbo|grep -v grep|wc -l | perl -pe 'chomp'");
open OUT, "> /tmp/STAT.out";
print OUT $stat;
close OUT;
print "stat: |" . $stat . "|\n";
chomp $stat;
my $newstat;
$newstat = substr($stat, 0, 1);
$stat = $newstat;
print "new stat: |" . $newstat . "|\n";
print "old stat: |" . $stat . "|\n";


##</code><code>##

0root@baseline-dc1:~# stat: |0root@baseline-dc1:~# |
new stat: |0|
old stat: |0|
before...|0|after...|0|bat@batbot:~/tests/Install_ISO$ more /tmp/STAT.out 
0root@baseline-dc1:~#