system LIST
       system PROGRAM LIST
               Does exactly the same thing as "exec LIST", except that
+ a fork
               is done first, and the parent process waits for the chi
+ld pro-
               cess to complete.  Note that argument processing varies
+ depend-
               ing on the number of arguments.  If there is more than 
+one
               argument in LIST, or if LIST is an array with more than
+ one
               value, starts the program given by the first element of
+ the
               list with arguments given by the rest of the list.  If 
+there is
               only one scalar argument, the argument is checked for s
+hell
               metacharacters, and if there are any, the entire argume
+nt is
               passed to the system’s command shell for parsing (this 
+is
               "/bin/sh -c" on Unix platforms, but varies on other pla
+tforms).
               If there are no shell metacharacters in the argument, i
+t is
               split into words and passed directly to "execvp", which
+ is more
               efficient.
 
               Beginning with v5.6.0, Perl will attempt to flush all f
+iles
               opened for output before any operation that may do a fo
+rk, but
               this may not be supported on some platforms (see perlpo
+rt).  To
               be safe, you may need to set $│ ($AUTOFLUSH in En
+glish) or call
               the "autoflush()" method of "IO::Handle" on any open ha
+ndles.
 
               The return value is the exit status of the program as r
+eturned
               by the "wait" call.  To get the actual exit value shift
+ right
               by eight (see below).  See also "exec".  This is not wh
+at you
               want to use to capture the output from a command, for t
+hat you
               should use merely backticks or "qx//", as described in
               "‘STRING‘" in perlop.  Return value of -1 indicates a f
+ailure
               to start the program (inspect $! for the reason).
 
               Like "exec", "system" allows you to lie to a program ab
+out its
               name if you use the "system PROGRAM LIST" syntax.  Agai
+n, see
               "exec".
 
               Because "system" and backticks block "SIGINT" and "SIGQ
+UIT",
               killing the program they’re running doesn’t actually in
+terrupt
               your program.
 
                   @args = ("command", "arg1", "arg2");
                   system(@args) == 0
                        or die "system @args failed: $?"
 
               You can check all the failure possibilities by inspecti
+ng $?
               like this:
 
                   $exit_value  = $? >> 8;
                   $signal_num  = $? & 127;
                   $dumped_core = $? & 128;
 
               or more portably by using the W*() calls of the POSIX e
+xten-
               sion; see perlport for more information.
 
               When the arguments get executed via the system shell, r
+esults
               and return codes will be subject to its quirks and capa
+bilities.  See "‘STRING‘" in perlop and "exec" for details.
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