exec() is not what you want. What you may want instead are either fork() or system() or do().

Some examples (without error checking, do a Super Search on each of these things to find out more):

  system( 'print.pl' );        
  # starts print.pl and continues when print.pl finishes

  # or alternatively

  do( 'print.pl' );            
  # Runs print.pl as if the text was typed instead of 
  # the do(...) line

  # or alternatively a version which is semi-portable to 
  # Windows as fork() dosen't really work there

  my $pid;
  $SIG{CHLD} = sub { wait };
  if ($pid = fork()) {
    # I am the master, so I continue here   
  } else {
    # I am the child, so I print
  };

[download]

If you really really really want to use fork(), I recommend you use the Super Search and read the man pages about it, because there is much more to fork() than what I've touched on here.

In reply to Re: How to exec in a separate thread? by Corion
in thread How to exec in a separate thread? by locked_user mr_leisure

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