ah ha! So something like:
 if (-p $named_pipe_name) {

    eval {
      local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "alarm\n" }; # NB: \n required
      alarm $timeout;
      if (sysopen(FIFO, $named_pipe_name, O_RDONLY)) {
        while(my $this_line = <FIFO>) {
          chomp($this_line);
          $result .= $this_line;
        }
        close(FIFO);
      } else {
        $errormsg = "ERROR: Failed to open named pipe $named_pipe_name
+ for reading: $!";
      }
      alarm 0;
    };
    if ($@) {
      if ($@ eq "alarm\n") {
        # timed out
        $errormsg = "Timed out reading from named pipe $named_pipe_nam
+e";
      } else {
        $errormsg = "Error reading from named pipe: $!";
      }
    } else {
      # didn't time out
      print STDOUT "$result\n";
    }

  }

[download]

In reply to Re^2: Reading from a Named Pipe by nzgrover
in thread Reading from a Named Pipe by nzgrover

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.