in order to verify if the backups are running properly I want to check timestamps of some directories in a cifs share. I need to check this from a linux host and I nearly got it working using http://search.cpan.org/~alian/Filesys-SmbClient-3.1/SmbClient.pm

If I hard code the share name, it works. I want to reuse the code allowing the share to be entered a the command line, and I hit a wall with the "$" character. In cifs (windows shares) "$" at the end of the share name means 'this share is hidden', so it is not discoverable using the Windows explorer (yes, security through obscurity).

I need to check dirs in shares with or without '$" at the end of the share name.

So using this code works:

use Filesys::SmbClient;

my $smb = Filesys::SmbClient->new(
                 username   => $user,
                 password   => $pwd,
                 workgroup  => $workgroup,
                 debug      => $debug,
);

my $fd = $smb->opendir("smb://filer1/db_backups\$/rest") or die "$!\n"
+;
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But this does not:

print "[$host], [$share], [$dir], [$user], [$pwd], [$workgroup], [$deb
+ug]\n";

# change share name from share$ to share\$
if ( $share =~ m/^.*\$$/ ) {
   $share =~ s/\$/\\\$/g;
   print "share is [$share]\n";
}
else { print "share is $share\n"; }

my $full_path = 'smb://' . $host . '/' . $share . '/' . $dir ;

print "[$full_path]\n";

my $fd = $smb->opendir("$full_path") or die "$!\n";
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[filer1], [db_backups$], [rest], [user], [password], [workgroup], [100
+]
share is [db_backups\$]
Full path is [smb://filer1/db_backups\$/rest]
No such file or directory
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Obviously, something is going wrong with the share name conversion, but I do not see what. Any help greatly appreciated.

Update:

Finally resolved by using single quotes around the share name and removing the if loop that changed the sharename if it contained a $ sign. O well.