hmm from http://perldoc.perl.org/perlvar.html

Additionally, if the h_errno variable is supported in C, its value is returned via $? if any gethost*() function fails.

would using $? work? tye also mentioned this value

In reply to Re^2: gethostbyname timing out or dns server can't find the host information by kennzors
in thread gethostbyname timing out or dns server can't find the host information by kennzors

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