Question

I’ve tried using system() with fork(), tried exec(), and am still not getting what I need.

I want to write a Perl script which executes, let’s say, a different Perl script five times in a row (sending it different parameter values), but I have it run concurrently. I realize I could turn my script into a .pm file and reference it, but I’d prefer to keep the child script independent of the parent…

• system() works, but executes the
  commands consecutively (makes sense
  per documentation)
• exec() doesn’t work – it only executes
  the first method (makes sense per
  doc)
• I added a fork() to the child Perl
  script and then tried using system()
• this did not work either.
• backtick command ‘ documents says it
  works the same as system()…

Isn’t there a simple way in Perl (I’m using Windows XP) to execute a process, and not care about the return values or anything and just continue on into the next line of the parent script?

Answer 1

On Windows, you can give the super-secret 1 flag to the system, IIRC.

system 1, @cmd;

A Google search for this question on PerlMonks gives: Start an MS window in the background from a Perl script