ken@titan ~/tmp/pm_11145308_test_dir
$ ls -1 a/b/c/d/e
'f:i-:l;e'
'fi:l;e'
'f-i:l;e'
'f-i-:l;e'
fi:le

##</code><code>##

#!/usr/bin/env perl

use strict;
use warnings;

my @data = (
    'a/b/c/d/e/fi le',
    'a/b/c/d/e/fi l e',
    'a/b/c/d/e/f i l e',
    'a/b/c/d/e/f i  l e',
);

for my $datum (@data) {
    print "\n*** Files matching '$datum':\n";
    # $datum =~ y/ /?/; -- see update below
    $datum =~ s/ /[\\;:,-]/g;
    system("ls -1 $datum");
}

##</code><code>##

ken@titan ~/tmp/pm_11145308_test_dir
$ ./find_file_match.pl

*** Files matching 'a/b/c/d/e/fi le':
a/b/c/d/e/fi:le

*** Files matching 'a/b/c/d/e/fi l e':
'a/b/c/d/e/fi:l;e'

*** Files matching 'a/b/c/d/e/f i l e':
'a/b/c/d/e/f-i:l;e'

*** Files matching 'a/b/c/d/e/f i  l e':
'a/b/c/d/e/f:i-:l;e'
'a/b/c/d/e/f-i-:l;e'