Here's what I use. It checks a defined directory every n seconds. It also checks the keyboard every second and exits if a key has been pressed. This script acts on anything found in the target directory. Modify the regex in check_directory() to change this.

#!/usr/bin/perl -Tw
use strict;

use Term::ReadKey;

# Directory to check
my $data_dir='/path/to/directory';
# Seconds between directory checks
my $poll_wait='5';

TEST:{
    # Process any incoming files
    if (check_directory()){
        process_files();
        redo TEST;
    }
    else{
    # Otherwise check for any key press while waiting
        my $counter=0;
        ReadMode('cbreak');
        CHECK:{
            my ($char);
            # Check if the user pressed a key
            if (defined ($char = ReadKey(-1))){
                ReadMode('normal');
                exit();
            }
            # Is it time to check the incoming directory?
            elsif($counter >= $poll_wait){
                $counter=0;
                ReadMode('normal');
                redo TEST;
            }
            # Sleep a bit before checking the kyb again.
            else{
                sleep(1);
                $counter++;
                redo CHECK;
            }
        }
    }
}
# We should never get here, but this restarts the loop if we do
redo TEST;

sub check_directory{
    print "\nChecking directory...\n";
    opendir DIR, "$data_dir" or die "Problems opening $data_dir: $!";
    while ( my $dir = readdir DIR ) {
        next if ( $dir =~ m/^\.\.?$/ );
        closedir DIR;
        return 1;
    }
    closedir DIR;
    print "Directory Empty\nPress A Key to Stop\n";
    return 0;
}

sub process_files{
    # do somthing like...
    print "The directory has something!\n";
    exit();
}
[download]

good luck...

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