#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

package search;

sub find {
    # ...
    return (-1, "my error message");
}

package main;

my ($exitcode, $msg) = search::find("foo", "bar");

print "exit code: $exitcode, message: '$msg'\n";

##</code><code>##

sub find {
        ...
        if (...)
        {
            return "Passed\n";
            $count++;   # never executed
            ...
        } 

##</code><code>##

package search;
use Scalar::Util 'dualvar';

sub find {
    # ...
    return dualvar -1, "my error message";
}

package main;

my $ret = search::find("foo", "bar");

printf "exit code: %d, message: '%s'\n", $ret, $ret;  
      # exit code: -1, message: 'my error message'