#!/usr/bin/perl
use common::sense;
use IO::Socket;
use IO::Select;

# establish connection
my $socket = IO::Socket::UNIX->new(
     Peer    => '/path/to/socket.file.sock',
    );

my $sel = IO::Select->new();
$sel->add($socket);

# issue command and read answer
my $some_command = 'foo';
print $socket "$some_command\n";
my $html = "<html>". sockread($sel,$socket). "</html>";

sub sockread {
    my $sel = shift;
    my $socket = shift;
    my $content;
    my $TimeOut = 0.5; #sec to wait

    while ($sel->can_read($TimeOut) && (my $line=<$socket>)){
        $content .= $line;
        last if $line =~ /\[ End of /i;         # vlc's rc is a bit inconsistent, some end like this
        last if $line =~ / returned 0 /i;       # others like this
    }
    return $content;
}