in reply to Localized STDIO and system()
#system("ls"); print `ls`; [download]
$ perl -e'print `ps -f`' UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD eric 19557 19556 0 14:46 pts/4 00:00:00 /bin/bash eric 19860 19557 0 15:05 pts/4 00:00:00 perl -eprint `ps -f` eric 19861 19860 0 15:05 pts/4 00:00:00 ps -f [download]
Notice ps's PPID is perl's PID?
True, readpipe (backticks) can invoke the shell. Then again, so can system. IPC::System::Simple provides alternatives to system and readpipe that are guaranteed to avoid the shell.