C:/TEMP/comment.txt #I know from experience that I can open this
                    #filepath with Perl on Win XP and read it.

C:\Projects>type C:/TEMP/comment.txt
The syntax of the command is incorrect.

C:\Projects>type "C:/TEMP/comment.txt"     #doesn't work
The system cannot find the file specified.

#my command above looks similar to yours, but doesn't appear
#to work for unknown reasons...your command works....
>type "c:/documents and settings/ikegami/bar.txt"
foo

C:\Projects>type 'C:/TEMP/comment.txt'    #did work either
The syntax of the command is incorrect.   #but I didn't expect it to.

C:\Projects>cat C:/TEMP/comment.txt  (this works)