How do I run a Perl script from within a Perl script?

perl ipc
cbowns picture cbowns · Dec 13, 2008 · Viewed 87.2k times · Source

I've got a Perl script that needs to execute another Perl script. This second script can be executed directly on the command line, but I need to execute it from within my first program. I'll need to pass it a few parameters that would normally be passed in when it's run standalone (the first script runs periodically, and executes the second script under a certain set of system conditions).

Preliminary Google searches suggest using backticks or a system() call. Are there any other ways to run it? (I'm guessing yes, since it's Perl we're talking about :P ) Which method is preferred if I need to capture output from the invoked program (and, if possible, pipe that output as it executes to stdout as though the second program were invoked directly)?

(Edit: oh, now SO suggests some related questions. This one is close, but not exactly the same as what I'm asking. The second program will likely take an hour or more to run (lots of I/O), so I'm not sure a one-off invocation is the right fit for this.)

Answer

Axeman picture Axeman · Dec 15, 2008

You can just do it. 

{
    local @ARGV = qw<param1 param2 param3>;
    do '/home/buddy/myscript.pl';
}

Prevents the overhead of loading in another copy of perl.

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