eval {
system("perl 2.pl");
};
if($@) {
 print "the error that was thrown in 2.pl";
}
...

##</code><code>##

system("blah") or die "Can't blah $!\n";

##</code><code>##

my $ret_val = system("perl 2.pl");
if ( $ret_val == 0 ) {
    print "Success";
}
else {
    printf "Error. Err Number: %d", $ret_val<<8;
}

##</code><code>##

exit 0        if $success;
exit $err_num if $err_num;  # numerical error value
exit -1;                    # WTF???

##</code><code>##

open F, $file or do {
    warn "Can't open $file for read $!\n";
    exit 1;    # Error code for can't open file
}
do_stuff(*F);
close F;
exit 0;