It may be worthwhile to look into the script command:

script file.log
perl -w sample1.pl 2>&1
echo $?
exit
col -b file.log > stdout.txt
[download]

Note -- script will save _everything_ that goes be the terminal into a file, which is why you need to pass it through col to get a more sane log file. It may be an advantage or disadvantage that everything gets saved, including subsequent commands, until you exit script.