Or even: `start /m rsh $server dir > ${server}.txt` Also, these windows go away in a flash, but each iteration of the mainloop calls 6 rsh'es for 6 different servers, and you get this obnoxious flash of console windows.

Did you try this?

start /b yourprogram

start /? says:

B -- Start application without creating a new window. The application has ^C handling ignored. Unless the application enables ^C processing, ^Break is the only way to interrupt the application

Run this, then remove the /b option and the windows start flashing again.

for my $i (0..10) {
    print "\nStarting $i\n";
    system( qq{start /b perl -e "print 'program $i'";} );
    }
[download]

/J