As an alternative to the environment variable, there's a Win32 API call you can use: GetWindowsDirectory, and there's also its sibling GetSystemDirectory. You can call these by using the Win32::API module. 
# Old Skool calls
use Win32::API;
my $getwindir = new Win32::API(kernel32 => GetWindowsDirectoryA => [qw
+(P N)], "N")
  or die "Can't locate function: $!";
# ... or use 'PN' for the 3rd parameter, if Win32::API is recent enoug
+h (version?)
my $buffer = "\0" x 300;
my $length = $getwindir->Call($buffer, length $buffer);
print substr $buffer, 0, $length;

[download]
The following crashes for me, if I don't delete $func->{proto}... Surely that must be a bug? Otherwise, I must be misunderstanding something really badly... 
# New Skool calls ($Win32::API::VERSION >= 0.40)
use Win32::API;
my $getwindir = new Win32::API(kernel32 => 'LONG GetWindowsDirectoryA(
+ LPSTR buffer, LONG maxlength )')
   or die "Can't locate function: $!";
# Do this, or bear the consequences:
delete $getwindir->{proto};
my $buffer = "\0" x 200;
my $length = $getwindir->Call($buffer, length $buffer);
print substr $buffer, 0, $length;

[download]
And of course, you can replace "GetWindowsDirectory"/"GetWindowsDirectoryA" everywhere with "GetSystemDirectory"/"GetSystemDirectoryA", to get the Windows/System subdirectory

In reply to Re: Using Window System Path Variable in Perl Script by bart
in thread Using Window System Path Variable in Perl Script by devgoddess

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.