I recently found that using the multi arg syntax of system negates many of the escaping issues that arise with this command.

my $pw5 = 'c:/program files/symantec/procomm plus/programs/pw5.exe
my $wax = 'bankpull.wax';
my $txt = 'jbankrib.txt';

system ( $pw5 , $wax , $txt ) or die 'Screaming $!';
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Having said that, I have no Win32 system to test this with. But it does a fine job in *nix.

And if you REALLY get tired of \this \that \" \something else , you will probably find q|singled quoted| and qq|doublequoted| very very helpful.