Any method you choose will be dependent on the terminal you're using. The Perl Cookbook, Recipe 4.18, "words program" offers a simplistic scrap of code for Linux. It would not work on Windows. It asks for extended information on the given filehandle, which the terminal program itself generally provides. 
# not portable -- linux only
sub getwinsize {
    my $winsize = "\0" x 8;
    my $TIOCGWINSZ = 0x40087468;
    if (ioctl(STDOUT, $TIOCGWINSZ, $winsize)) {
        ($rows, $cols, $xpixel, $ypixel) = unpack('S4', $winsize);
    } else {
        $cols = 80;
    }
}

[download]

You might do some research into termcap, which is the usual way of figuring out terminal capabilities and escape code sequences supported on a given Unix-style terminal. There are some CPAN modules which interface with the termcap facility.

--
[ e d @ h a l l e y . c c ]

In reply to Re: How to get the width of a console window? by halley
in thread How to get the width of a console window? by professa

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.