total rewrite using File::Find::Rule:

use File::Find::Rule;
sub in_path {
  my ($cmd, $path) = @_;
  my @files = File::Find::Rule->file()->name($cmd)->maxdepth(1)->in( s
+plit /:/, $path ) or return 'not found';
  return grep(-x $_,@files) ? 'exe' : 'plain';
}
[download]

ditto on calin's comments ... esepecially that this function should just return a boolean, in which case it becomes one line:

return File::Find::Rule->file()->executable->name($cmd)->maxdepth(1)->
+in( split /:/, $path ) ? 1 : undef;
[download]