tachyon: Isn't that an endless loop? Also, he probably wants threading so his program doesn't stick endlessly or wait for x number of seconds for each file that isn't there. Better to wait x seconds rather than xn seconds.

EDIT TO PREVIOUS: I should have put in an end check parameter:

sub check_file {
    my ($fpath, $arrp) = @_;
    my $max = 15;
    my $handle;
    while (!-e $fpath || !open($handle, $fpath)) {
        return if (!$max--); sleep(1);
    }
    $$arrp = join('', <$handle>);
    close($handle);
}
[download]