Issue with backticks in ActiveState

freddo411 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I'm not understanding how the backticks operator is working in ActiveState. How can I execute $cmd so that it "works" as I intend?

foreach ( 7100 .. 7114 ) {
    my $path = File::Spec->catdir( $topdir, "$_/hosted/docs/cdm4/msoff
+ice" );
    my $cmd = "rmdir /s /q $path";
    print "$cmd \n";
    print `$cmd` . "\n";
}
[download]

Some output shows that it is doing something funny to the /s and /q cmdline options of rmdir.

rmdir /s /q D:\sites\cust\7112\hosted\docs\cdm4\msoffice
rmdir: failed to remove `/s': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove `/q': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove `D:\\sites\\cust\\7112\\hosted\\docs\\cdm4\\ms
+office': Directory not empty
[download]

I'm running:

D:\z>perl -v <br>
This is perl, v5.10.0 built for MSWin32-x86-multi-thread
[download]

-------------------------------------
Nothing is too wonderful to be true
-- Michael Faraday

Comment on Issue with backticks in ActiveState Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Issue with backticks in ActiveState by GrandFather (Saint) on Sep 08, 2009 at 21:10 UTC
What OS are you using? Are you sure the OS version of rmdir is being found, and not some rogue application that's pretending to be rmdir? Running perl -e "my $cmd = qq(rmdir /s /q TempDirTree); print `$cmd` . qq(\n)" [download] from the command line works as expected for me using Vista64 and ActiveState Perl 5.8.7. True laziness is hard work	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Issue with backticks in ActiveState by pKai (Priest) on Sep 08, 2009 at 21:15 UTC
You probably have a `rmdir.exe` somewhere in your `PATH`. Check to verify: `where rmdir.exe`. The `rmdir`, probably from the `unxutils` will not accept options with slashes, contrary to the `cmd` built-in `rmdir`. A perl -e "`rmdir /s /q testdir`;" works flawless for me (no exe present here).	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Issue with backticks in ActiveState by freddo411 (Chaplain) on Sep 08, 2009 at 23:06 UTC
You probably have a rmdir.exe somewhere in your PATH. Bingo. Thanks for pointing this out. ------------------------------------- Nothing is too wonderful to be true -- Michael Faraday	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Issue with backticks in ActiveState by toolic (Bishop) on Sep 08, 2009 at 20:21 UTC
print `$cmd` . "\n"; That seems like a strange use of backticks. Backticks are used to collect output from a command, and you are just passing the output to print. Have you tried using system? `system $cmd;` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Issue with backticks in ActiveState by Marshall (Canon) on Sep 08, 2009 at 21:38 UTC
You may find: How do I delete a directory without emptying it first? of help.	[reply]
Re: Issue with backticks in ActiveState by ikegami (Patriarch) on Sep 09, 2009 at 00:08 UTC
File::Path's `rmtree` will do the trick much more cleanly.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Issue with backticks in ActiveState by Anonymous Monk on Sep 08, 2009 at 21:24 UTC
`perl -V:sh sh='cmd /x /c';` [download] D:\>perl -le"print `rmdir /?`" rmdir: `/2': Invalid argument D:\>perl -le"print `rmdir --help`" Usage: rmdir [OPTION]... DIRECTORY... Remove the DIRECTORY(ies), if they are empty. --ignore-fail-on-non-empty ignore each failure that is solely because a directo +ry is non-empty -p, --parents remove DIRECTORY, then try to remove each directory component of that path name. E.g., `rmdir -p a/b/c' + is similar to `rmdir a/b/c a/b a'. -v, --verbose output a diagnostic for every directory processed --help display this help and exit --version output version information and exit Report bugs to <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>. D:\>perl -le"print `cmd /x /c rmdir /?`" Removes (deletes) a directory. RMDIR [/S] [/Q] [drive:]path RD [/S] [/Q] [drive:]path /S Removes all directories and files in the specified directo +ry in addition to the directory itself. Used to remove a dir +ectory tree. /Q Quiet mode, do not ask if ok to remove a directory tree wi +th /S [download] `perl -MExtUtils::Command -e rm_rf -- D:\sites\cust\7112\hosted\docs/cdm4\msoffice`	[reply] [d/l] [select]


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