But where's the Perl learning opportunity in that?

Using the correct tool for the job is a lesson that also applies to Perl.

As a side note both of the previous examples will work without bash.

I don't get your point. As far as I can tell, you are falsely implying it will work with all interpreters or shells, or you expect me to list all of them in which the code will work even though I don't know that list.