I don't think you could be vaguer :)
Very basic

#!/usr/bin/perl
# update.pl multiple options command line
my @packages = @ARGV
foreach (@packages){
system(packageexecutableforupdate);
#with output captured
My $output = `packageexecutableforupdate`;
}

Not tested of course. More info may lend yourself to a better answer.

Paul

Paul Kraus
-----------------------
PEL Supply Company
Network Administrator
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeff Collins [mailto:jtbaca@yahoo.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2003 11:44 AM
> To: [email]beginners@perl.org[/email]
> Subject: Perl Newbie question: How would you take keyboard input and run a
> shell scrip with that input?
>
> For example: I would like for the user to enter the
> name of a software package to use and then call a
> shell script to use that package name to upgrade
> software.
>
> Thanks
>
> =====
> Jeffrey T. Collins
> [email]jtbaca@yahoo.com[/email]
>
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