$! is only modified on failure. Most if not all functions leave it alone on success. This means if the copy succeeds, then $! is set to whatever it was before copy() was called -- which, given the nature of $!, is probably an error result, but might be success, as lakshmananindia noted.

wol's solution is best, because it doesn't rely on $! to figure out whether the copy succeeded.

In reply to Re^2: copy - Inappropriate ioctl for device by Anonymous Monk
in thread copy - Inappropriate ioctl for device by shekarkcb

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