alternatives are all welcomed

perldoc perlipc shows how to setup a timeout; you might try to modify it for your needs (untested).

sub getinput {
    my $default = shift;
    my $value;
    eval { 
        local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "alarm clock restart" };
        alarm 10; 

        # your code here, read <STDIN>
        $value = ...

        alarm 0; 
    };
    if ($@ and $@ !~ /alarm clock restart/) { return $default }
    return $value;
}
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Thanks - I found a very similar piece of code in the Camel book 3rd edition, which I was able to modify.

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

my $value;
my $timedout;

sub timedout {
 $value = "default";
 $timedout = 1;
 die;
}

eval {
 local $SIG{ALRM} = 'timedout';
 alarm 10;
 print "Please enter the value - you have 10 seconds\n";
 chomp ($value = <STDIN>);
 alarm 0;
};
alarm 0;

if ( $timedout ) {
 print "You timed out - setting value to $value\n";
}
else {
 print "You entered $value within the 10 second time frame\n";
}
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I am new to Perl, but I would have thought this had come up more. I am still interested in other solutions, so keep them coming!

stephen

NAME
     IO::Select - OO interface to the select system call

SYNOPSIS
         use IO::Select;

         $s = IO::Select->new();

         $s->add(\*STDIN);
         $s->add($some_handle);

         @ready = $s->can_read($timeout);

         @ready = IO::Select->new(@handles)->read(0);
[download]