The first thing to learn about Perl is to always throw in

use strict;
use warnings;
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at the top of your programs. It will save you a LOT of trouble.

If the error messages aren't obvious to you, then add use diagnostics as well.

Additionally, you should keep a "test.pl" file around so that you can try out any command you're not completely sure of in an isolated environment where you know there are no other errors.

PS: oh, and if it seems like it just doesn't run, try running it from a command prompt window. That way, the window won't vanish before you can read the compile error messages. ;)