Hi,

Here you have an example:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
$|++;

use strict;
use threads;
use threads::shared;

# Flag variable we use to stop the 2nd thread
my $complete : shared = 0;

# Create the thread
my $thread = threads->create(\&dothis);

# Code of main thread goes here
sleep 5;

# Change the flag variable so the thread ends
$complete = 1;

# Join the threads together
$thread->join();

# End of the program
exit;

sub dothis {
        until($complete) {
                print "#";
                sleep 1;
        }
        print "\n";
}
[download]

Take a look at threads.

But you can use fork and sending a kill signal to the child instead, I think it would be faster and more efficient.

For more complicated solution think about Event, Event::Lib or POE.

Update: This code is a example of threads, but of course for a simple stats of a file download is not necessary... as stated before. I supossed that you wanted a simple example to see how threads work in Perl.

Regards,