Monks,
When I run system(), I want to get the CORRECT error msg
if an error has occurred.
However, I have discovered that sometimes Perl gives me
the same msg that the shell generates (which I want), and
sometimes it doesn't!
See the following

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;             # Enforce declarations

my (
    $cmd, $status
    );

print "Test1\n\n";
$cmd = "somprog var";
$status = system($cmd);
if( $status != 0 )
{
    $! = $? >> 8;
    print "fail $!\n";
}

print "\nTest2\n\n";
$cmd = "someprog \"var\"";
$status = system($cmd);
if( $status != 0 )
{
    $! = $? >> 8;
    print "fail $!\n";
}

print "\nTest3\n\n";
$cmd = "ls t.t";
$status = system($cmd);
if( $status != 0 )
{
    $! = $? >> 8;
    print "fail $!\n";
}

exit;

[download]
Results: 
Test1

Can't exec "somprog": No such file or directory at ./err_cvt.pl line 1
+0.
fail Unknown error

Test2

sh: someprog: not found
fail Not owner

Test3

t.t: No such file or directory
fail No such file or directory

[download]
As you can see, in Test1 & Test2, the Perl msg is wrong, but correct in Test3.

1. Why?
2. how can I get all uses of system() to give me the the right msg ie same as shell produces?

Cheers
Chris

In reply to Using system(): converting error num to human readable message by chrism01

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