Ok, that was relevant information. I'm inferring that you're just clicking on your .pl file ... which can work, but isn't exactly the best way to test/debug your perl code. (Nor is using wordpad or notepad the best editor for programming in - you may want to check out other editors. Just asking about favourite programming editors may get a lot of --'s thrown about - it's a very religious topic in most programming circles, so it's usually avoided.)

Hit Start->Run and type "cmd". From there, run your perl script (you may have to cd to the right directory - and you may need to run it as "perl <script.pl>"). When it's done, you'll get your command prompt back, and still be able to see everything the perl code did.

Other alternatives include putting another "my $junk = <STDIN>;" at the end of your code which will cause the program to pause until you hit enter. But, IMO, programmers should become friendly with the command shell - it's just too useful to avoid.