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Executing External Commands
The Fork & Exec Functions

  • The fork() function creates a new child process

  • The exec() function overlays (replaces) the active process image with a new executable image 

      # Here, do common initialization
unless ( fork ) {
	# Here, I'm the child
	# You may invoke perl commands, and/or the exec() function
	exec( "ftp ftp.sdsc.edu" ); # This overlays child with ftp
	# We should never reach this line...
}
# Here, I'm the parent