use IPC::System::Simple 'capturex'; my @bpx; for (capturex('/local/mnt/quadmcd/bcommand', '-pol', $line, '-sl', 'TIMESTATE', '-d', $final_start, '-e', $final_end, '-L')) { next unless /inventoryid:/i; my @F = split; push @bpx, $F[2]; }