I tested the little Perl snippet on my SPARC and it produces the output on STDOUT for the "ps -ef" command.
I don't get what you mean for "standard input". I know the handle is used for INPUT processing via a file Handle but what I suggested still works.
It's probably not syntaticallly correct but it works perfect. Perl doesn't seem to care if the pipe (|) is in front.
It does send the "ps -ef" command to STDOUT though I guarantee it...try it.
I also found it convienient to give it a handle because then this guy can manipulate the data any way he wants to later on.
I might be misunderstanding you though.