To put it simply, I think that what you want is one of: 
# run xx.exe word_up and get the output of that program in a variable
my $xx_output = `xx.exe word_up`;

# just plain run the program... let the output go to the terminal
# just as it would be if you ran it at your dos prompt
system "xx.exe word_up";

[download]
You're sort of confusing the program's input stream from it's command line. (In perl, this is the difference between STDIN and @ARGV... in C you'd call it stdin and argv/argc... whatever). It's the difference between (again at a command prompt) doing: 
echo stuff | foo.exe

[download]
(where "stuff" is going to be the input to foo.exe) and doing: 
foo.exe stuff

[download]
(where "stuff" is the first parameter to foo.exe). And it's also possible that you're additionally confusing it with: 
foo.exe < stuff

[download]
(where "stuff" is the name of a file, the contents of which are to be the input to foo.exe). 
------------
:Wq
Not an editor command: Wq

[download]

In reply to Re: win32 pipe help by etcshadow
in thread win32 pipe help by perlmonkee

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.