perlfaq nodetype faq_monk <P> If you want finer granularity than the 1 second that the <CODE>sleep()</CODE> function provides, the easiest way is to use the <CODE>select()</CODE> function as documented in <U>select</U>. If your system has itimers and <CODE>syscall()</CODE> support, you can check out the old example in <A HREF="http://www.perl.com/CPAN/doc/misc/ancient/tutorial/eg/itimers.pl">http://www.perl.com/CPAN/doc/misc/ancient/tutorial/eg/itimers.pl</A> . <P>