in reply to Run sequential processes (Matlab, SAS, etc.) from Perl

There realy is no need for perl for this. Just write a simple shell script:

#!/bin/bash matlab myscript.m mylogfile.txt sas mysascode.sas # ... etc.

Or if you are truly impatient, you can put the whole thing on one command line. Just separate the commands with semi colons (;), double check it is correct, and hit enter.