sub executeCommand_wrong {
  my $command = join ' ', @_;
  ($? >> 8, $_ = qx{$command 2>&1});
}
sub executeCommand_correct {
  my $command = join ' ', @_;
  ($_ = qx{$command 2>&1}, $? >> 8);
}
my $command = 'echo -n ciao ; false';
my ($status, $output) = executeCommand_wrong ($command);
print "[$output] -> [$status]\n";
($output, $status) = executeCommand_correct($command);
print "[$output] -> [$status]\n";

__END__
[ciao] -> [0]
[ciao] -> [1]