Ok, I hope I am asking this in the correct place. I have a simple IRC Client that I want to make, there are a plethora of code snippets online for this. And I have 1/2 of a working client. It connects, responds to the PING requests and can even auto reply to any commands I want it to recognize and reply to. But my problem is, I don't want a bot that idles or auto-replies. I want a basic, bare-bones client that can send messages as well as receive them. If I try to add a loop/command to send a message it stops the entire loop and waits for me to input. I tried this in C++ using a non-blocking input command and still couldn't send any information. My Main Question, do I have to open an extra socket? Simply for sending messages that I input? 
#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w
# irc.pl
# A simple IRC robot.
# Usage: perl irc.pl

use strict;

# We will use a raw socket to connect to the IRC server.
use IO::Socket;

# The server to connect to and our details.
my $server = "irc.servercentral.net";
my $nick = "opti__";
my $login = "opti__";


# The channel which the bot will join.
my $channel = "#contraversy";

# Connect to the IRC server.
my $sock = new IO::Socket::INET(PeerAddr => $server,
                                PeerPort => 6667,
                                Proto => 'tcp') or
                                    die "Can't connect\n";

# Log on to the server.
print $sock "NICK $nick\r\n";
print $sock "USER $login 8 * :contraIRC\r\n";

# Read lines from the server until it tells us we have connected.
while (my $input = <$sock>) {
    # Check the numerical responses from the server.
    if ($input =~ /004/) {
        # We are now logged in.
        last;
    }
    elsif ($input =~ /433/) {
        die "Nickname is already in use.";
    }
}

# Join the channel.
print $sock "JOIN $channel\r\n";




# Keep reading lines from the server.
while (my $input = <$sock>) {
    chop $input;
    if ($input =~ /^PING(.*)$/i) {
        # We must respond to PINGs to avoid being disconnected.
        print $sock "PONG $1\r\n";
    }
    else {
    # Print the raw line received by the bot.
        print "$input\n";
    }
}

[download]
PS if you run this and try to send a message its in the RFC format "PRIVMSG #channelornick :message here \r\n" <-- The CRLF is required also. Any help will be appreciated! Thanks!

In reply to Very Basic Perl Question about Sockets .. and IRC by Contraversy

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