I would use createprocess for this, but I think you could also use shellexecute. Here is a simple example:

Assumes perl.exe is in c:\perl\bin and a the sample.pl script below is in c:\perl\scripts

sample.pl

print "Please type in either heads or tails: ";

#The <STDIN> is the way to read keyboard input
$answer = <STDIN>;
chomp $answer;

while ( $answer ne "heads" and $answer ne "tails" ) {
	print "I asked you to type heads or tails. Please do so: ";
	$answer = <STDIN>;
	chomp $answer;
}

print "Thanks. You chose $answer.\n";
print "Hit enter key to continue: ";

#This line is here to pause the script
#until you hit the carriage return
#but the input is never used for anything.
$_ = <STDIN>;

if ( $answer eq "heads" ) {
	print "HEADS! you WON!\n";
} else {
	print "TAILS?! you lost. Try again!\n";
}

vfp runperl.prg

declare long ShellExecute in "shell32.dll" long hwnd, string lpszOp, ;
                    string lpszFile, string lpszParams, ;
                    string lpszDir, long nShowCmd

declare long GetDesktopWindow in"win32api"

local hDCScreen

hDCScreen = GetDesktopWindow()

IF ShellExecute( hDCScreen, "open","c:\perl\bin\perl.exe","c:\perl\scripts\sample.pl","",1) <= 32
	=MESSAGEBOX("Could not load perl.")
ENDIF