I have a server program and a client is connecting to it. This is the code:

while(1) {
  &write_log(\*LOG,$program,"Waiting for client to connect...");
  while($client = $server->accept()) {
    $client->autoflush(1);
    while (<$client>) {
      chomp;
      $buffer=substr($_,0,66);
      # Perform actions with the buffer and get the answer
      print $client "$answer\n";
      &write_log(\*LOG,$program,"SERV -> CLNT <$answer>");
      &ora_commit($dbh);
    }
    &write_log(\*LOG,$program,"Waiting for client to connect...");
    close $client;
  }
  &write_log(\*LOG,$program,"Waiting for counter $counter");
  $counter = $counter+1;
}
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This works fine until, the client disconnects unexpectedly. Then I'm stuck in the while (<client>) loop. Is there anyway to get the client connection closed when he unexpectedly disconnects. The script runs on a HP-UX machine. Perhaps I can use some UNIX command to check this?