Here's enough rope to hang yourself with... :-)

#!/usr/bin/perl -T --

use strict;
use warnings;
use CGI ();

$ENV{ PATH } = join ':', qw( /bin /usr/bin /usr/local/bin );

print CGI::header( 'text/plain' ), `date`;

# or
# print CGI::header( 'text/plain' );
# system 'date';

__END__
[download]

Definitely check out CGI.

Update Added the comment with the system alternative. Thanks, to ikegami for pointing it out.