$  perl -E ' @c = `ls f*.*`; $return_code = `echo $?`; say scalar $return_code;'
0

##</code><code>##

$  perl -E ' @c = `ls foobar.*`; $return_code = `echo $?`; say scalar $return_code;'
ls: impossible to find foobar.*: No such file or directory
512

##</code><code>##

$ ls *.* | sort | perl -E '@c = <>; say scalar @c, " files";  $return_code = `echo $?`; say scalar $return_code;'
294 files
0

##</code><code>##

$ ls  foobar.*  | perl -E ' $return_code = `echo $?`; say scalar $return_code;'
ls: impossible to find foobar.*: No such file or directory
0