From: PerlFAQ Server on
This is an excerpt from the latest version perlfaq8.pod, which
comes with the standard Perl distribution. These postings aim to
reduce the number of repeated questions as well as allow the community
to review and update the answers. The latest version of the complete
perlfaq is at http://faq.perl.org .

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8.38: How do I timeout a slow event?

Use the alarm() function, probably in conjunction with a signal handler,
as documented in "Signals" in perlipc and the section on "Signals" in
the Camel. You may instead use the more flexible Sys::AlarmCall module
available from CPAN.

The alarm() function is not implemented on all versions of Windows.
Check the documentation for your specific version of Perl.



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