Why don't you write a sub that does everything you want around each system call? That way you can change your mind later; add logging in one place, etc.

sub run_command
{
    my $command = shift;

    system($command);
    if ($?)
    {
        my $rc = $? >> 8;
        die "Failed to run '$command': exit code $rc\n";
    }
}

run_command('vxdg deport oracle');
run_command('something else ...');
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Good idea steves++ , I suppose it depends on one's perl version and personal preference, but being able to call system with list syntax (bypassing the shell hence no jiggery-pokery with escaping things) is IMHO so groovy it hurts doing it the old way!. I'd make a small modification to your subroutine.

sub run_command
  {
      # invoke system(@list) if more than one arg passed.
      ($#_) ? system(@_) : system($_[0]);
      
      if ($?)
      {
          my $rc = $? >> 8;
          die "Failed to run '$command': exit code $rc\n";
      }
  }
  # Easy arg passing with a list;
  run_command('blah' , '-v' , '-q');
  # Pass as scalar for shell interpretation of metachars
  run_command('tar cvf /dev/null /tmp/*.sock');
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warning - the args to run_command are untested but no harmful

I can't believe it's not psellchecked

Perhaps you should put $! in the die string too.

Why don't force the list syntax? For example, doing a system(@_,"")?

--bronto

---

The very nature of Perl to be like natural language--inconsistant and full of dwim and special cases--makes it impossible to know it all without simply memorizing the documentation (which is not complete or totally correct anyway).
--John M. Dlugosz

For starters I hope you meant $? and not $_ >> 8 in your second code snippet. You could wrap that bit shift any way you like such as

$rc = sub { $? >> 8 };

# one way
system(@mysyscall) and die "@mysyscall returned ", &$rc;
# or
if (system(@mysyscall)) { die "@mysyscall returned ", &$rc };
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The rest of the time just use the normal 'system'.

Thanks to everyone for replying to question, you given me plenty of food for thought.