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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