I just tried this variation with some success:

my ($i, $return, $pid, @pids);
for ($i = 1; $i <= 3; $i++) {
  if ($pid=fork) {
    push @pids, $pid;
  } elsif (defined $pid) {
    $return = &my_function($i);
    print "Returned: $return\n";
    exit;
  }
}

foreach my $childpid (@pids) {
  waitpid($childpid, 0);
}

print "All is done!\n";

Thanks.

just wait for the CHILD in the parent:



my ($i, $return, $pid, @pids);
   for ($i = 1; $i <= 3; $i++) {
       if ($pid=fork) {
           push @pids, $pid;
           waitpid($pid,0);
       } elsif (defined $pid) {
           $return = &my_function($i);
           print "Returned: $return\n";
           exit;
       }
   }
print "All done.\n";
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++
Thanks slayven for waitpid($pid,0);

Y'know, for ($i = 1; $i <= 3; $i++) {} is a horribly un-Perlish way to write for (1..3) {}

You'll note that I use the $i variable further down in the code.

i thought it was easier to drop the waitpid-statement into his code
instead of explaining where he has to put it into :)