shell script: get return message

Hello,

How do you get the return message of a program in shell script?

I know the way to get the return code of the program.
eg.

a_cmd
if test $? -eq 0 ; then
echo "success"
else
echo "failed"
fi


Thank you.

you could use `backticks` to execute something, and then >redirect the results into a variable within your script...

chris