I needed to add the 2>&1| guess that's the pipe you're talking about. Thanks.

sub netUse {
    
    
    my @net_use_output;
    my $output;
    
    chomp $_[0];
    $_ = $1 if($_[0]=~/(.*)\\$/);
    print "\nnet use \* \"$_[0]\"";
    
    #my $output = `net use \* \"$_[0]\"  2>&1|`;
    
    open TASK, "net use \* \"$_[0]\"  2>&1|" or die "cannot map $_[0]"
+;

    while (<TASK>)
    {
        print "\n";
        print;
        #chomp;
        #chop;
        push (@net_use_output, $_);
        #return $_;
    }
    print join(", ", @net_use_output);
    
    print "\n";
    print "\n";
    print "-----\n";
    print @net_use_output[0];
    $output = $2 if(@net_use_output[0]=~/^(Drive\s)([A-Z])\:(.*)$/);
    
    print "\n";
    print "\n";
    print "-----\n";
    print $output;
    #return @net_use_output;
}
[download]

Returns:

net use * "\\BLAH\NESTED\OBFUSCATED.WITH SPECIAL_CHARS\SHARE\NAME\DOWN
+\DEEP"
Drive S: is now connected to \\BLAH\NESTED\OBFUSCATED.WITH SPECIAL_CHA
+RS\SHARE\NAME\DOWN\DEEP.



The command completed successfully.


Drive S: is now connected to \\BLAH\NESTED\OBFUSCATED.WITH SPECIAL_CHA
+RS\SHARE\NAME\DOWN\DEEP.
,
, The command completed successfully.
,


-----
Drive S: is now connected to \\BLAH\NESTED\OBFUSCATED.WITH SPECIAL_CHA
+RS\SHARE\NAME\DOWN\DEEP.


-----
S
[download]