my @args = ("start",$file,$file);

##</code><code>##

for (@args) {
  # Apply smart-ish double quotes
  if (/ /) { $_ = qq{"$_"}; }
};

##</code><code>##

  $_ = '"' . $_ . '"';
  # or 
  $_ = "\"$_\"";

##</code><code>##

system(@args) == 0
  or warn "Couldn't launch '$file' : $!/$?/$^E";