I have a Perl script with a .pl extension. When I try and run it from the command line like this: test.pl

I get a message saying "test.pl not found". When I run it like this: perl test.pl

it runs OK. Why is this?

I guess because you need to fire up perl first then tell it which script to run

$ perl test.pl

hmm, to my humble opinion, i think cos u need to call out the software of perl that is installed in ur computer to run the command..