Get the current system load with Perl.

server_load.pl

# ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# Get current system load average
#
# based on: http://www.skolnick.org/cgi-bin/list.pl?file=serverload.pl
# file: server_load.pl
#
# Get system load average with ruby => %x[perl server_load.pl].to_f
# ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

print get_load_average();

sub get_load_average {
  open(LOAD, "/proc/loadavg") or die "Unable to get server load \n";
  my $load_avg = <LOAD>;
  close LOAD;
  my ( $one_min_avg ) = split /\s/, $load_avg;
  return $one_min_avg;
}