Why not just do it all in Perl?

#!/usr/bin/perl

$ENV{PEOPLE} = '321-23';  # setenv PEOPLE

$res = menu();  # some menu function that gets input

# call shell stuff via `cmd` qx[ cmd ] system('cmd') exec('cmd')

# backtics get you STDOUT results, add 2>&1 to capture STDERR as well
my $results = `cmd $some $args 2>&1`;
print "Got $results\n";

# system lets you check exit codes but ingnores output
system("cmd");
my $exit_val = $? >> 8;

# exec mutates the perl script into some other program
exec("there_can_be_only_me");
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