The semi-colon in bash is the statement terminator. If you do not use a semi-colon then your statement is terminated by a newline. Both the semi-colon and the newline can be escaped. This is all to do with bash and nothing to do with perl.
As examples try these:
Happy bashing!
In reply to Re: semicolon for perl command in bash
by hippo
in thread semicolon for perl command in bash
by mianfeidewucan
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