oh yeah, I forgot how unfriendly it is. There's an class that helps in this case: 
   my $sock = IO::Socket::INET->new(PeerAddr => $host,
                                    PeerPort => $port,
                                    Proto    => 'tcp');


   my $sel = IO::Select->new($sock);

   open (FILEOUT, '>', 'output.log');
   my @msgstream;

   while ($sel->can_read($timeout))
   {
      my $line = <$sock>;
      ...
   }

[download]

By the way, this thread discusses how to use a second process.

In reply to Re^3: monitor tcp stream but alert if no info in xx mins by ikegami
in thread monitor tcp stream but alert if no info in xx mins by bengmau

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