perlquestion scsijon I am VERY new to perl ( a few days only) although I can work through most programs across languages nowadays given time and decent referance url's. I need to run something like this: <code> $package_category = (./support/find_cat $package_name $package_description)</code> I can run the shell equivalent in a Terminal Console and have it OK, But I can't seem to work out how to do it from withing the perl program. the format I am trying to match is: <code> $output_variable = relative_file_path/external_command_filename_to_run $input_variable1 $input_variable2 $output_variable is what I get back; and $input_variable1 and 2 are what the perl script feeds in. </code> And it will run as part of a loop with different input_variable entries each time, hopefully giving the correct output variable back. I have already had a look through the similar varying messages across some of your pages, but they don't seem to match what I am attempting and I am hoping someone can either help directly with just code or (better) both code and a breakdown on what is what so I can understand it as well as use it. Thanks in advance and anticipation of an easy fix.