How can I specify timeout limit for Perl system call?

Question

Sometimes my system call goes into a never ending state. To, avoid that I want to be able to break out of the call after a specified amount of time.

Is there a way t

Answer 1

I've just used the timeout command in Perl + Linux before, something you can test like this:

for(0..4){
  my $command="sleep $_";  #your command
  print "$command, ";
  system("timeout 1.1s $command");  # kill after 1.1 seconds
  if   ($? == -1  ){ printf "failed to execute: $!" }
  elsif($?&127    ){ printf "died, signal %d, %scoredump", $?&127, $?&128?'':'no '}
  elsif($?>>8==124){ printf "timed out" }
  else             { printf "child finished, exit value %d", $? >> 8 }
  print "\n";
}

Output after 4.317 seconds:

sleep 0, child finished, exit value 0
sleep 1, child finished, exit value 0
sleep 2, timed out
sleep 3, timed out
sleep 4, timed out

The timeout command is part of all major "normal" Linux distributions a.f.a.i.k, a part of coreutils.