You want qx (Quoted execution) or the backticks operator: 
#!/usr/bin/perl

use warnings;
use strict;

my $output = `nslookup www.perlmonks.org`; #or qx

print "=====\n";
print $output;
print "=====\n";

[download]
See perldoc perlop, and look for Quote and Quote-like Operators for more information
Cheers
Update: Also look for qx/STRING/ in the above manpage - it's more relevant
Update 2: Search for "capture STDOUT" in the search box, and you'll find How to capture data from STDOUT?. If it's a simple question, it's almost certainly been asked (and answered) before, so please remember to search first.

davis
Is this going out live?
No, Homer, very few cartoons are broadcast live - it's a terrible strain on the animator's wrist

In reply to Re: Redirecting STDOUT to a variable by davis
in thread Redirecting STDOUT to a variable by Dave05

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.