Are you sure you read the manpage for the system that you are actually working on? Many unices differ in this area. Solaris doesn't even allow the syntax, I don't think. Linux usually uses it to mean "write to a named pipe." On IRIX, such a command acts as a filter and must be followed by another action. Some BSDs behave as you describe.

If your system definitely permits the behavior you want, it might be a permissions issue. If syslogd runs the command specified as a user that doesn't have permission to run your script or to write to your /home/code/writtenbyperllog file. It might even be a formatting issue; some syslogd.conf files must have tab delimited fields.

It isn't is a Perl issue though. The code is fine. But you already knew that...

Good luck.

-sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";