note rjt <p>For those that learn by example:</p> <code> my $cmd = 'echo "Hello World" && exit 2'; my $sys_result = system($cmd); print "system() returned `$sys_result'; \$? = $?\n"; my $qx_result = `$cmd`; print "qx// returned `$qx_result'; \$? = $?\n"; </code> <p>Output:</p> <code> Hello World System returned `512'; $? = 512 qx// returned `Hello World '; $? = 512 </code> <p>In a nutshell, with [doc://system], the command's output will not be captured (note how "Hello World\n" goes to the terminal), and you get the exit status as the return value. With [doc://perlop#`STRING`|backticks], the command's stdout is captured, and you get that output as your return value. In both cases, the child error is available with [doc://perlvar#$CHILD_ERROR|$?].</p> <p>If you need to capture standard error, you will need to redirect it to standard output by appending 2>&1 to your command, or perhaps use the completely different [mod://IPC::Open3].</p> <p>Please review [id://174051] and feel free to ask a more specific question if none of these replies are telling you what you need to know.</p> 843492 843492