unless (@ARGV) {
    open CONF, "ciscoconf" or die "We're really in trouble now: $!";
    while (<CONF>) {
        chomp;
        push @ARGV, $_;
    }
    close CONF;
}
[download]

Granted, I was expecting a list of files to READ, and I wanted to use the magic <> construct, but something similar applies.

unless (@ARGV) {
  @ARGV = "ciscoconf";
  chomp(@ARGV = <>);
}
[download]

{grin}

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker

But I'm kinda slow sometimes, and often ride the "short bus" to the Monastery   ;^)   So... I re-read ovid's excellent Before You Post ..., then condensed my script down to a relevant minimum, in hopes of some charitable Monk showing me how to insert the necessary control structure(s) properly.

A quick(?) recap for anyone who just tuned in...   cisconconf.pl is the script, it uses Net::Telnet::Cisco to connect to a Cisco router or switch and do stuff.   ciscoconf.log records the results of the script.   And ciscoconf.in is to be a list of routers (one router name/ip addr per line) for the script to connect to.   I also want to be able to call the script with a space-delimited list of routers, like so: ciscoconf.pl router1 router2 router3, included at the command-line which whould over-ride any existing .in file.

I half understand unless, <>, while, or push individually but not how to actually plug them into my code.
    cheers,
    ybiC

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
# ciscoconf.pl

use strict;
use Net::Telnet::Cisco;


my $pass    = '';                          # Cisco vty password
my $timeout = '60';                        # seconds of no response ti
+ll Net::Telnet::Cisco gives up waiting
my $infile  = "/dir/subdir/ciscoconf.in"  # one-per-line text-file lis
+ting of Cisco devices to connect to
my $logfile = "/dir/subdir/ciscoconf.log" # logfile of script results


print "starting Cisco device sessions\n"  # print to console, not log
open (IN, "$infile")     or die "Error opening $infile: $!\n"
open (LOG,">$logfile")   or die "Error opening $logfile: $!\n"


# repeat these actions for each Cisco device at command prompt (or els
+e in ciscoconf.in)
# control struct(s) begin here?
    print LOG "#######################################################
+######\n"
    my $cs=Net::Telnet::Cisco->new(Host=>IN, timeout=>$timeout,);
    $cs->login('',$pass);                  # vty login
    $cs->errmode(sub{print LOG @_, "\n"}); # error handler: print $cs-
+>errmsg, "\n"
    print $cs->last_prompt, "\n"          # print Cisco device prompt 
+to console
    print LOG $cs->last_prompt, "\n"      # print Cisco device prompt 
+to log
    $cs->close;                            # exit Cisco session
    print LOG "#######################################################
+######\n"
# control struct(s) end here?
# end actions for each Cisco device


close (IN)               or die "Error closng $infile: $!\n"
close (LOG)              or die "Error closing $logfile: $!\n"
print "finished Cisco device sessions\n"  # print to console, not log

# END
[download]

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
# ciscoconf.pl

use strict;
use Net::Telnet::Cisco;

my $pass    = '';                          # Cisco vty password
my $timeout = '60';                        # seconds of no response ti
+ll Net::Telnet::Cisco gives up waiting
my $infile  = "/dir/subdir/ciscoconf.in";  # one-per-line text-file li
+sting of Cisco devices to connect to
my $logfile = "/dir/subdir/ciscoconf.log"; # logfile of script results

print "starting Cisco device sessions\n";  # print to console, not log
open (LOG,">$logfile")   or die "Error opening $logfile: $!\n";

unless (@ARGV) {
    @ARGV = $infile;
    chomp(@ARGV = <>);
}
 
# repeat these actions for each Cisco device at command prompt (or els
+e in ciscoconf.in)
for my $dev (@ARGV) {
    print LOG "#######################################################
+######\n";
    my $cs = Net::Telnet::Cisco->new(Host=>$dev, timeout=>$timeout);
    $cs->login('',$pass);                  # vty login
    $cs->errmode(sub{print LOG @_, "\n"}); # error handler: print $cs-
+>errmsg, "\n";
    print $cs->last_prompt, "\n";          # print Cisco device prompt
+ to console   
    print LOG $cs->last_prompt, "\n";      # print Cisco device prompt
+ to log
    $cs->close;                            # exit Cisco session
    print LOG "#######################################################
+######\n";
}
 
close (LOG)              or die "Error closing $logfile: $!\n";
print "Finished Cisco device sessions\n";  # print to console, not log

# END
[download]


-- ar0n (just another perl joe)

Hey, that did the trick.
Thanks to ar0n, chromatic, and merlyn (in alphabetical order).
    cheers,
    ybiC