if ( @ARGV ) { foreach my $i ( 0 .. $#ARGV ) { print "ARVG[$i]: ", $ARGV[$i], "\n"; } exit(0); } system("perl", $0, 'foo', '"\"bar baz\""'); # or this: system("perl", $0, 'foo', qq("\\"bar baz\\"")); ARVG[0]: foo ARVG[1]: "bar baz"