Curt Shaffer wrote: > List, Hello,
> I am trying to set a variable based on a system call. In Perl a "system call" would be open() or link() or crypt(), etc. You mean that you are trying to set a variable based on the output of an external program. > Here is my code: > > #!/usr/bin/perl use warnings; > use strict; > > my $test = system `/usr/bin/snmpget -v1 10.1.11.18 -c secret > .1.3.6.1.4.1.710.7.1.5.1.23.1.13.1|awk '{print $4}'`; You are using back-quotes AND system() so if your external command displayed the text: 1234 then the back-quotes would return "1234\n" and system() would run the program "1234\n" and return the exit status of the program "1234\n". It looks like you may want something like: my $test = ( split ' ', `/usr/bin/snmpget -v1 10.1.11.18 -c secret .1.3.6.1.4.1.710.7.1.5.1.23.1.13.1` )[ 3 ]; Or perhaps you need to use one of the SNMP modules at: http://search.cpan.org/search?m=module&q=snmp&s=1&n=100 John -- use Perl; program fulfillment -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <http://learn.perl.org/> <http://learn.perl.org/first-response>