Don't mix "return status" of a program and "return value" of a function. In C you can perhaps confuse them, because main() return()s the program's exit code.

That's different in Perl: return() returns a value from a subroutine. exit() returns a value(better "status" or "exit code") from a program.

$? contains the last "exit code" from a child of the current program. $? is set after qx//,system, (...). It has nothing to do with modules, for the loading of modules doesn't invoke a new process, it happens in the perl process your program runs in.

As lready mentioned, `perldoc perlsub` should be read, also perlmod, as well as `perldoc -f return` and `perldoc -f exit`.

you need to assign the return value to something, as in my $status = my_sub( $my, $args );

read perlsub for more info.

Update: here's an example (adapted from perlsub)...

package return_test;

sub max 
{
    my $max = shift @_;
    foreach my $foo (@_) 
    {
        $max = $foo if $max < $foo;
    }
    return $max;
}

package main;

$bestday = return_test::max( $mon, $tue, $wed, $thu, $fri );
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~Particle *accelerates*

A module is not a function. A function is not a child process. What are you trying to accomplish?