test the exit status inside a shell

[Larry Autry]

Is there a way to test the exit status of the previously executed process
while in a shell?  In other words, if the previous program returned an exit
status of (2) (or even (0)), then perform something based upon that return 
value.
-- 
					Larry Autry
larry at sgistl.sgi.com
       or
{ucbvax,sun,ames,pyramid,decwrl}!sgi!sgistl!larry