Keep in mind that (from perldoc -f system):

... If there is only
one scalar argument, the argument is checked for shell
metacharacters, and if there are any, the entire argument is
passed to the system's command shell for parsing

So, you may want to make sure you don't use any shell metacharacters, and/or that you use the LIST form of system, as your particular shell might be limiting the command-line (or causing other problems).

I think you need to explain a little more about how you are invoking the external command and passing the parameter list?

I'm able to pass comand lines of upto 32767 characters using system running AS under NT, and I doubt that XP has reduced this capacity, so I assume that you are using some other way of spawning the external comand and are running up against it's limitations rather than the OS per se.

OK, I've been asked to provide a bit more detail and provide a code sample. The external program is the command line interface to the Responsys Interact system

my $editcampaign = $cliObj->editcampaign(
campaign    => "Fake_Test_Campaign",
folder        => "Big_Fake_Directory_For_testing_only",
dist        => "Big_Fake_Directory_For_testing_only test_data_source",
html        => "Big_Fake_Directory_For_testing_only fake_file.htm",
aol        => "Big_Fake_Directory_For_testing_only fake_file.aol",
text        => "Big_Fake_Directory_For_testing_only fake_file.txt",
autosense    => 1,
);
[download]

Then with in the package I'm building, I'm generating the command string with:

sub editcampaign {
    my $self = shift;
    my( $data, $ret );
    ( @_ ) ? ( %$data ) = @_ : return;
    return if ( ( !$data->{'campaign'} ) or ( scalar( keys %$data ) < 
+1  ) ) ;

    push @$ret, qq|-locale $data->{'locale'}|    if ( $data->{'locale'
+} );
    push @$ret, qq|-folder $data->{'folder'}|    if ( $data->{'folder'
+} );
    push @$ret, qq|-ackurl $data->{'ackurl'}|    if ( $data->{'ackurl'
+} );
    push @$ret, qq|-followup $data->{'followup'}|    if ( $data->{'fol
+lowup'} );
    push @$ret, qq|-test $data->{'test'}|        if ( $data->{'test'} 
+);
    push @$ret, qq|-optout $data->{'optout'}|    if ( $data->{'optout'
+} );
    push @$ret, qq|-dist $data->{'dist'}|        if ( ( $data->{'dist'
+} ) and ( $data->{'dist'} =~ /(.*) (.*)/ ) );
    push @$ret, qq|-html $data->{'html'}|        if ( ( $data->{'html'
+} ) and ( $data->{'html'} =~ /(.*) (.*)/ ) );
    push @$ret, qq|-text $data->{'text'}|        if ( ( $data->{'text'
+} ) and ( $data->{'text'} =~ /(.*) (.*)/ ) );
    push @$ret, qq|-aol $data->{'aol'}|        if ( ( $data->{'aol'} )
+ and ( $data->{'aol'} =~ /(.*) (.*)/ ) );
    push @$ret, qq|-attach $data->{'attach'}|    if ( ( $data->{'attac
+h'} ) and ( $data->{'attach'} =~ /(.*) (.*)/ ) );
    push @$ret, qq|-sentlog $data->{'sentlog'}|    if ( ( $data->{'sen
+tlog'} ) and ( $data->{'sentlog'} =~ /(.*) (.*)/ ) );
    push @$ret, qq|-ackdoc $data->{'ackdoc'}|    if ( ( $data->{'ackdo
+c'} ) and ( $data->{'ackdoc'} =~ /(.*) (.*)/ ) );
    push @$ret, qq|-responsedb $data->{'responsedb'}|    if ( ( $data-
+>{'responsedb'} ) and ( $data->{'responsedb'} =~ /(.*) (.*)/ ) );
    push @$ret, qq|-failedlog $data->{'failedlog'}|    if ( ( $data->{
+'failedlog'} ) and ( $data->{'failedlog'} =~ /(.*) (.*)/ ) );
    push @$ret, qq|-clicktrack $data->{'clicktrack'}|    if ( ( $data-
+>{'clicktrack'} ) and ( $data->{'clicktrack'} =~ /(.*) (.*)/ ) );
    push @$ret, qq|-clickthru $data->{'clickthru'}|    if ( ( $data->{
+'clickthru'} ) and ( $data->{'clickthru'} =~ /(.*) (.*) (.*) (.*)/ ) 
+);
    push @$ret, qq|-skipdup ON|        if ( $data->{'locale'} );
    push @$ret, qq|-autosense ON|        if ( $data->{'autosense'} );
    push @$ret, qq|-opensense ON|        if ( $data->{'opensense'} );
    push @$ret, qq|-useaccountwide ON|    if ( $data->{'useaccountwide
+'} );
    push @$ret, qq|-conversiontrack ON|    if ( $data->{'conversiontra
+ck'} );
    push @$ret, qq|-htmltoaol ON|        if ( $data->{'htmltoaol'} );
    push @$ret, qq|-autosenseaol ON|    if ( ( $data->{'autosenseaol'}
+ ) and ( ( $data->{'autosense'} ) or ( $data->{'opensense'} ) ) ) ;
    push @$ret, $data->{'campaign'};
    $ret = join " ", @$ret;

    # Log action
    $self->{'LOGGER'}->log( level => 'notice', message => "campaign $r
+et\n" );

    #execute it
    ( $ret ) = $self->executeCommand( "campaign $ret" );

    return 1;
}
[download]

The executeCommand call is the code provided in http://www.perlmonks.com/index.pl?node_id=151886 with a few minor tweeks made for logging and returning the results set.

Interesting side note: when I try this from the command line, I get a return saying:
Warning!!! Turning skip multipart OFF since auto-sense is used.
and the command still executes, setting all of the things I care about.

Any thoughts?

P.S. I will also gladly accept any style hints/pointers involved with creating the command line string.

There is no executeCommand() sub in Re: IPC::Open3 woes? (I checked 3 times:)

---

Examine what is said, not who speaks.
"Efficiency is intelligent laziness." -David Dunham
"Think for yourself!" - Abigail
Hooray!

How are you executing the command? This is pretty important. If you can use system with a list of arguments instead of a single string. From your code, you are likely using the single argument form of system which has all the quoting and length limits of the shell.

    $ret = join " ", @$ret;

    #execute it
    ( $ret ) = $self->executeCommand( "campaign $ret" )
[download]

Since you already have the list of arguments, you can use that. You will have to use the array form of system. If you need to read the stdout of the program, I think that IPC::Open3 supports an array of arguments.

    system('campaign', @$ret);
[download]

After finally getting it through my thick skull, I skipped the whole $ret = join " ", @$ret; and now simply pass the array to the sub.

It works vewry well thank you!!

Thanks for finally doing it jburrel!!!