I had three ideas: 1) try the Xt calls directly (I cannot find a module that lets you get to Xt directly, so this may not be easy), 2) try setting the clipboard value, then testing to see if it is available. If it is, then exit. (I have no idea if this will work or not). 3) Switch to gtk and see if you can do it easily from gtk. gtk plays well with perl...

HTH, --john