Yes.

Oh, you mean will I elaborate?

OK.

No shell is involved. This makes it safer than the solutions I've seen that usually end up as something like:

my @RESULT = `echo $INPUT | Some Command`;
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The problem is that $INPUT is being handed to a shell, making me have to worry and wonder about all shell-sensitive characters.

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker
Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.

Thanks, I had forgotten about that.

I should think this method might be preferred then, unless the application is something quick-and-dirty.

Will you please comment on the disadvantages of this method?

-QM
--
Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of

Converted to a subroutine, make the exec safer, optionally capture STDERR, lexical filehandle:

=head3 safe_pipe

 safe_pipe [ options, ] command, input

 my $results = safe_pipe [ 'command', 'arg' ], @input;
 my @results = safe_pipe [ 'command', 'arg' ], @input;
 my $results = safe_pipe { capture_err => 1 }, [ 'command', 'arg' ], @
+input;

Pipe data to a shell command safely (without touching a command line) 
+and
retrieve the results.

Options:

=over 4

=item capture_err

If true, STDERR will also be captured and included in returned results
+.

=back

=cut

sub safe_pipe {
  my $opt = {};
  $opt = shift if 'HASH' eq ref($_[0]);

  my $command = shift;
  my ($RESULT, @x);

  $command = [$command] unless ref $command;

  if (open $RESULT, "-|") { # original process: receiver (reads $RESUL
+T)
    @x = <$RESULT>;
  }

  else {
    if (open STDIN, "-|") { # child: processor (reads STDIN, writes ST
+DOUT)
      open STDERR, ">&STDOUT" or die "Can't dup STDOUT: $!" if $$opt{c
+apture_err};
      exec { $$command[0] } @$command;
      die "Cannot exec @$command: $!";
    }

    else {                  # grandchild: sender (writes STDOUT)
      print @_;
      exit 0;
    }
  }

  wantarray ? @x : join('', @x);
}
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Do you have a Win32 version of this as well?