If I read your quotes right, you have

9 open(SCRIPT, '$file') || die "$file DIE DIE DIE!!!!! $!";
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Ahh yes, the cut-n-paste reveals it. You are opening up a file named "dollar eff eye ell eee". Do you really have a file by that name? Drop the quotes, or change to double quotes, and you'll see a remarkable improvement in execution.

And please change

qx(ls *pl)
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to a simpler kinder gentler more accurate

glob "*pl"
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or if that doesn't work

<*pl>
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Thanks!

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker