You misunderstand. My use of the word "command" was simply as a placeholder for whatever command you are using system to invoke, ... NOT a reference to the old 16-bit windows shell, "command.com". Ie.

system( "command \\path\\with spaces\\file" );
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could be

system( "notepad \\path\\with spaces\\file" );
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or

system( "xcopy \\path\\with spaces\\file" );
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The same applies to all other uses of the text 'command' in the original post.

Something like below, does not work either on WinXP/SP1 or Win2K/SP4. I tried it out from the command shell and perl is "This is perl, v5.6.0 built for MSWin32-x86"


[C:/tmp] cat x.pl
my $ret = system ("D:\\Program Files\\bin\\t.pl");
if ($? !=0 ) {
        print "ERROR: ret=[$?], err msg [$!]\n";
}
[C:/tmp] ./x.pl
'D:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
ERROR: ret=[256], err msg [No such file or directory]
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The file t.pl is just a line with 'print "hello world!\n";' and one of the soutions I see is to use the Win32::GetShortPathName function.
-sureshr

You need to quote the command as well if it contains spaces. ie. This will work as. The inner, backslash-escaped quotes will be passed to the shell.

my $ret = system( "\"D:\\Program Files\\bin\\t.pl\"" );
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However, rather than having to escape the inner quotes and double the backslashes, it's easier to make use of perls profusion of quoting operators.

my $ret = system( q[ "D:\Program Files\bin\t.pl" ]);
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or

my $ret = system( '"D:\Program Files\bin\t.pl"' );
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As an example

P:\test>copy con "d:\program files\test.pl8"
print "Hi there! from $0";
^Z
        1 file(s) copied.


P:\test>perl
system( '"d:\program files\test.pl8"' ) and warn 'Failed with: ', $?;
^Z
Hi there! from D:\program files\test.pl8
P:\test>
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Hope that clarifies things a bit.

---

Examine what is said, not who speaks.

"Efficiency is intelligent laziness." -David Dunham
"When I'm working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong." -Richard Buckminster Fuller
If I understand your problem, I can solve it! Of course, the same can be said for you.

Apparently you missed what I was saying (or I wasn't clear enough). Try this

C:\>more foo bar baz.pl
Cannot access file C:\foo

C:\>more "foo bar baz.pl"

print "foo bar baz.pl says hi";

C:\>perl 
my @args = ( $^X, 'foo bar baz.pl' );
warn "  while going through the shell ret = ".system "@args";
warn "  while avoding the shell ret = ".system {$args[0]} @args;

__END__
Can't open perl script "foo": No such file or directory
  while going through the shell ret = 512 at - line 2.
foo bar baz.pl says hi  while avoding the shell ret = 0 at - line 3.
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See that special form of system? It completely avoids the shell, meaning, if $args[1] eq "ab cd ef" , then $args[0] (in this case $^X, ie perl), gets a single argument, just as if you said perl "ab cd ef". Read `perldoc -f exec' for the full details.

MJD says "you can't just make shit up and expect the computer to know what you mean, retardo!"

I run a Win32 PPM repository for perl 5.6.x and 5.8.x -- I take requests (README).

** The third rule of perl club is a statement of fact: pod is sexy.