is there a way to not only call another perl program but to pass it parameters as well?

TIMTOWTDI

  $output = `foo.pl $arg1 $arg2`;

  system("foo.pl $arg1 $arg2");

  system("foo.pl", $arg1, $arg2);
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The difference in behavior between the last to examples is subtle, but worthy of study. It is well-described in perlfunc.