sub daemonize {
   chdir '/'               or die "Can't chdir to /: $!";
   open STDIN, '/dev/null' or die "Can't read /dev/null: $!";
   open STDOUT, '>/dev/null'
                                       or die "Can't write to /dev/nul
+l: $!";
   defined(my $pid = fork) or die "Can't fork: $!";
   exit if $pid;
   setsid                  or die "Can't start a new session: $!";
   open STDERR, '>&STDOUT' or die "Can't dup stdout: $!";
}
[download]

#!/usr/bin/perl

print "Now backgrounding your process...\n";
fork and exit;
# rest of code goes here
[download]

See this thread for info on executing backgrounding a script.
Specialized modules exist for this kind of problem:

• Net::daemon
• Proc::daemon

You have to setsid too, to disassociate from your parent's process group:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use POSIX qw(setsid);

# Become a daemon
my $pid=fork;
exit if $pid; # Parent exits here
die "Couldn't fork $!" unless defined($pid);
die "Couldn't start new session $!" unless POSIX::setsid();

# Do your daemon bit...

OK, rereading the text at the top..

One way to achieve the result is to resort to bash:

#!/bin/bash
perlprog.pl&

But it seems silly just to avoid typing '&'. What exactly are you trying to achieve?

One solution is to fork and have the parent exit.

Originally posted as a Categorized Answer.

Re: Is it possible to background a perl script from within itself?

Originally posted as a Categorized Answer.

Originally posted as a Categorized Answer.