SYSTEM command

[Steven Waters]

SCO UNIX 5.0.6 Filepro 5
I am not sure if this can be done.
I need to know when to purge a directory of files. 
I use this at the command prompt;
# l > list
# wc -l < list
  481
I have 481 files in the directory. Lets say that when the directory
reaches 500 I want Filepro to tell me to purge it.
is it possible to get the result back , like a dummy field
to your output processing system command?

I have removed the full path for this example;

  1
         If:
       Then: system "./bin/l /workorders > list"
  2  -------   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -  
         If:   
       Then: system "./bin/wc -l < /workorders/list"

Is there a way to get the result of line 2 back into the processing?
Thanks for any help.
Steve