C:\test>perl -MIPC::System::Simple=capture -E"say capture( 'perl', '-q' )" Unrecognized switch: -q (-h will show valid options). "perl" unexpectedly returned exit value 9 at -e line 1 C:\test>perl -MIPC::System::Simple=capture -E"say capture( 'prel', '-q' )" "prel" failed to start: "The system cannot find the path specified" at -e line 1 C:\test>perl -E"say qx[prel -q 2>&1]" 'prel' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. C:\test>perl -E"say qx[perl -q 2>&1]" Unrecognized switch: -q (-h will show valid options).