Yes - the 'qx' and backticks provide that functionality. The perl script waits for the command to complete, then executes the next perl command.

use strict;
use warnings;

my $externalExe="C:/path/to/myprog.exe";

print "Starting external program...\n";

print for qx|$externalExe 2>&1|; # Executes the program, and prints it
+'s output 

print "Program $externalExe run completed.\n";
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