[NTLUG:Discuss] OT C system call question

[Fred James]

All
In C there is "system"
(SYNOPSIS
     #include <stdlib.h>
 
     int system (const char *string);
)

What I think I have found is that if the command inside the ( ... ) is a 
shell script and it returns a numeric value (as in: exit $i), the C 
program will see it as that number multiplied by 256 (i.e., 0 is 0, 1 
becomes 256, 2 becomes 512, etc.).  [these test were run on an SGI IRIX 
6.4 machine]

Can anyone confirm or deny that, or offer any enlightenment, please?  
Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to offer.
Regards
Fred James