You may want to look at IO::Select. Here is an excerpt from the perldoc:

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);
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