#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
# This is file2

print "Before: ";
# Run the first script
do "file1";

my $new_error_value = 20;

@ARGV = "file1";
{
    local $^I = ""; # Enable in-place editing
    while (<>){
        s/(\$error\s*=\s*)\d+/$1$new_error_value/;
        print;
    }
}

print "After: ";
# Run the first script
do "file1";