I have seen this in many places in Perl scripts: system("binary"); $exit_code = ($? >> 8) exit($exit_code) Why should I use this? Is there an alternative way? I am calling some binary in system(binary) which I created in C++, which does some stuff and if it fails it gives assert . When I reboot a Linux machine, the stuff which is going fails, and my binary generates assert as expected. But on the Perl side where I called it, it throws a 134 error code, which after 134 >> 8 , becomes 0 . Ultimately it is making my failure operation a success (which I don't want).

Why to shift bits "$? >> 8" when using Perl system function to execute command

I have seen this in many places in Perl scripts:

system("binary");
$exit_code = ($? >> 8)
exit($exit_code)

Why should I use this? Is there an alternative way?
I am calling some binary in system(binary) which I created in C++, which does some stuff and if it fails it gives assert. When I reboot a Linux machine, the stuff which is going fails, and my binary generates assert as expected. But on the Perl side where I called it, it throws a 134 error code, which after 134 >> 8, becomes 0. Ultimately it is making my failure operation a success (which I don't want).