return1=`/path/to/script.pl arg1 arg2`
return2=$(/path/to/script.pl arg1 arg2)

##</code><code>##

return_newlines="$(/path/to/script.pl arg1 arg2)"

##</code><code>##

#!/usr/bin/perl
print $_, $/ for @ARGV;

##</code><code>##

#!/bin/bash
value=0
echo "value starts from $value"
./script.pl arg1 arg2 | while read line ; do
   value=$line
        echo "value is $value"
done
echo "after first while, value is $value"
 
while read line ; do
   value=$line
        echo "value is $value"
done <<<"$(./script.pl arg1 arg2)"
echo "finally, value is $value"

##</code><code>##

value starts from 0
value is arg1
value is arg2
after first while, value is 0
value is arg1
value is arg2
finally, value is arg2