Backquotes interpolate variables, and $3 is a special variable in Perl. So, Perl interpolates it (but it's probably empty, do you use warnings?) before awk can see it. You can prevent interpolation by backslashing the dollar sign. But... Why would you call awk from Perl? You can get the same result without shelling out.
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In reply to Re: Using Perl instead of awk! by choroba
in thread Using Perl instead of awk! by Ragged Robin

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