Is this the problem?

I see nothing which removes entries from @rmtDirList.

You could work around this by passing variables to Prog() from within your infinite loop and treating them as lexicals within the function. You're far better off doing that.

Thanks for the advice. I emptied out some of the arrays, as can be seen in the code, but this is one I must have missed. I will add:

@rmtDirList = ();

along with the others and see if it has an effect on the problem.

And what is this loop meant to do?

    for (my $i=0; $i < $dirNum; $i++) {
        my $gftDirName = $ProdRec[$i]{'remoteDir'};
    }
[download]

You assign a bunch of values from a global array of hashes to a loop-local lexical scalar, and then do nothing with any of them?

I took out the line from the full script where the directory names are printed to the a log file:

print LOG "Retrieving data from remote dir: $gftDirName\n";

The first thing I notice is that the code you posted will not even compile. You have a missing close brace:

sub ftpFileGet {
    my $workingDir = $globals[2]{'workingDir'};
    my $select = Net::Netrc->lookup($host, $userAcct);
    my $pass = $select->password();
    my $ftp = Net::FTP->new($host);
   $ftp->login($userAcct, $pass);
   $ftp->pasv;
   $ftp->binary;
  chdir($workingDir);
   foreach my $fileToGet (@matches) {
         $ftp->cwd("$remoteDir");
         my $remoteFileSize = $ftp->size($fileToGet);
         my $localFileName = "$fileToGet"."$globals[1]{'transfer'}";
         my $ftpReturnVar =  $ftp->get($fileToGet, $localFileName);
         next if ! defined $ftpReturnVar;
         my $localFileSize = (stat "$workingDir/$localFileName")[7];
         if ($remoteFileSize == $localFileSize) {
                 push (@filesToRetrv, $ftpReturnVar);
         ## <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Guess what is missing here!! 
   }
   $ftp->quit();
   return @filesToMove;
 }
[download]

Sorry, that closing brace must have gone to the way side while I was trying to clean up the script to post here. The full code does, in fact, compile. As I said, it runs for about an hour before ending with the "Out of memory!" message.

joeymac:

Try calling Data::Dumper on each of your global variables inside your loop, and direct the output to a text file. Then look at the results when it crashes and see which variable is unexpectedly large. Then concentrate on the relevent bits of code. There are better ways to do it, but this one's quick and easy.

...roboticus

When your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like your thumb.

I didn't look to closely. The indenting in your code looks a bit random (hard to follow the flow). Try perltidy to fix that. But there are a few things that you should take a look at:

First, you call a function like this:

for (;;) {
 &Prog;
}
[download]

while(1) {
    Prog();
}
[download]

The function cleanUp calls opendir but not closedir. Looks like you do the same in Prog. One of the golden rules is: Always close handles as soon as you don't need them anymore.

If you deparse for(;;){ you get:

perl -MO=Deparse -e"for(;;){ print 'hello' }"
while (1) {
    print 'hello';
}
[download]

Whilst I agree while(1) { is clearer, for(;;){ isn't actually an error.

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Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.

"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".

In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

The start of some sanity?

Ah, thanks. Didn't realize Perl already does that. Good catch!

BREW /very/strong/coffee HTTP/1.1
Host: goodmorning.example.com

418 I'm a teapot

for(;;){ isn't actually an error.

This is intentional. In both C and Perl, any combination of the three expressions can be omitted.

• If the initialisation expression is missing, no initialisation is performed before entering the loop.
• If the exit condition is missing, the loop doesn't exit.
• If the counting expression is missing, no code is executed at the end of every pass.

Thanks for the advice on the closedir. I will add these in and see if it has an effect on the problem. Just for reference, is there much difference between infinitely looping using a

while(1) {}

loop rather than a

for (;;){}

loop?

The first one makes it a bit clearer that you are intentionally looping an infinite number.

I'm not sure about this, but the while loop may also be a tiny bit more efficient in this case.

BREW /very/strong/coffee HTTP/1.1
Host: goodmorning.example.com

418 I'm a teapot

No, while (1) {} gets optimised to for (;;) {} (which I use and pronounced "for ever").

If I may be so bold as to reel everyone back in to the original question, my script still seems to be running out of memory after about an hour. If anyone would like to continue to (needlessly) debate the differences between for(;;) and while(1), go to my previously posted question Infinite Loop Question and go wild. I have tried:

in both subroutines after I opened and read directories, and I also tried emptying out the @rmtDirList at the end of the Prog subroutine:

but neither has worked yet. As I said, it is stumping me because a very similar version of the script has been running nonstop for about a three weeks now, and I never ran into this problem when developing it. In fact I am testing the problem script on exactly the same server machine that the other is currently running! Any other insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

@rmtDirList isn't the only global I see you modify in place without clearing. Try also my other suggestion of passing in global variables, copying their values into lexicals, and leaving the globals unmodified. That's far easier in the long run than pairing up pushes and pops every place you modify a global.

---

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