I used this method excpet I modified it slightly. I changed if ($response eq 'SQLEND') { to if ($response =~ "SQLEND") { That seemes to clear up the infinite loop it produced. I assumed that it was due to a CR-LF at the end and tried cleaning it up with chomp but it didn't help. So in the interest of getting this project wrapped up I just searched for the SQLEND. Thanks for the help!