## case 1, with spaces in dir name
my $dir = 'C:/foo/bar baz/';
## this works ok
my @xlfiles = <"$dir*.xls">;

## case 2, no spaces in dir name
$dir = 'C:/foo/bar_baz/';
## this does not work...
@xlfiles = <"$dir*.xls">;
## but this does...
@xlfiles = <$dir*.xls>;