grep {-x "$_/$program"} split /:/ => $ENV {PATH};
[download]

The other problem is more general. If the program exists, the fork and the exec will work. The other program *will* get started. The only "problem" is that it will terminate sooner than you expect. Hence, your pipe will be "broken". In that case (printing to a pipe that was closed on the other hand), your program will get a SIGPIPE. You could write something like:

    eval {
        local $SIG {PIPE} = sub {die "Pipe!"};
        print FH "Whatever\n";
        ....
        close FH or die;
    };
    if ($@ && $@ =~ /^Pipe!/) {
        ... Do something ...
    }
[download]

Abigail

Good solutions and good help. Thanks very much!

-Shannon

use Shell;

my $sh = Shell->new;

my @commands = qw (ls garbage rm);

for (@commands) {
  if ($sh->can($_)) {
    print "command $_ is available\n";
  } else {
    print "command $_ is NOT available\n";
  }
}
[download]

This is better. Still I won't be able to check to see if the command executed properly, but you solved the problem I asked for and I appreciate that.

Thanks!

-Shannon