system, open(FH, '...|'), open(FH, '|...'), fork+exec, IPC::Open3, IPC::Run and IPC::Run3 are different ways of running a executable from Perl. As complicated as they are, they are simpler to use than to compiling Perl into your C program (perlembed) or to compiling C into Perl (perlxs, perlxstut, Inline::C).