I write scripts in tcsh (sorry, not bash) and programs in Perl (in the past, I've written a lot in "C"). In both cases (tcsh and Perl), I have problems with filenames that contain special characters. I use (){}[]!# in most of my filenames and folder names, some of which came from the old days of windoz. My laptops run either Ubuntu or Debian and I use nautilus to access files and it understands these files and folder.

A Perl snippet as an example of the problem:

use String::ShellQuote;                        # this package almost n
+ever works

my $Temp = shell_quote_best_effort('BulletinV3, 1 Montana 20xx-xx-xx (
+print).pdf_FN_TEMPLATE');

if (-e $Temp) {
    `zenity --width 300 --info  --text 'DBG> Got it!'`;
    }
  else {
    `zenity --width 300 --error --text 'DBG> Nope, not found!'`; # thi
+s is what I get all the time
    }

$rc = rename("BulletinV3, 1 Montana 20xx-xx-xx (print).pdf_FN_TEMPLATE
+",
             "BulletinV3, 1 Montana $SundayDate (print).pdf_FN_TEMPLAT
+E");
if($rc == 1) {
    $ExtTypes{'pdf_FN_TEMPLATE'}++;
    }
  else {
    `zenity --title \"Rename problem\" --width 400 --error --text \"Fi
+le rename error (\\\"$!\\\"; \\\"BulletinV3, 1 Montana 20xx-xx-xx (pr
+int).pdf_FN_TEMPLATE\\\")\"`;
    }
[download]

I know the file is there, I can see it, I can show it with ls (on the command-line), but the Perl program does not. I've tried all manner of quoting with backslashes, single and double quotes etc. I've tried using back-ticks with Linux 'mv' commands instead of rename() but in all the cases, nothing works. I've been plagued with this problem for years and, sometimes, I can find unique ways to deal with it. I'd like a way that I can use for all situations (it seems, nautilus has a solution that works).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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