In article <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask]
 (Randy Kaelber) writes:
> Chris Carman ([log in to unmask]) wrote:
>> Shouldn't the process ID change every time it's run?  Basically, all I want
 is
>> a unique number every time this script I'm working on is run, and although it
>> wouldn't be a problem to put in a little counter subroutine, I just figured a
>> process ID would be easier.  Any ideas?  Thanks!
>
> What you're up against is OpenVMS, unlike the UNIX variants, does not fork
> a new process everytime you run a command. So, you're getting the process
> ID of your DCL process. Before we can address what you need to do instead,
 
Ah, okay.
 
> what is that that you're wanting to accomplish with the unique number?
 
Well, I have a workaround, but what I wanted to do was create a unique data
file every time a script is run.  This one way I got around it:
 
open(PID,"show process/dump|");
   $line=<PID>; $line=<PID>;
   $file = substr($line,0,23);
   $file =~ s/\ //g;
   $file =~ s/\:/-/g;
   $line=<PID>; $line=<PID>; $line=<PID>;
close (PID);
 
This just results in a filename like 4-NOV-199615-04-56.41, which is as close
to unique as I can get.  Anyway, it didn't work out; I'm having prolems
getting a script to send a mail message right now.
-Chris Carman
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