So why not put the commands into a batch file and pipe the output of the commands to a file?

test.bat
--------
dir c:\some\path\ >>c:\path\to\test.txt
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then use the system call and read the output in perl:

system("c:\path\to\test.bat"); 
open(OUTPUT, "<c:/path/to/test.txt") || die "couln't open ...yadda..."
+;
@output=<OUTPUT>;
close(OUTPUT);
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Just my $0.02.

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Matthew Musgrove
Who says that programmers can't work in the Marketing Department?
Or is that who says that Marketing people can't program?