You'd need it for non-executables, to call up the associated application: 

system('start /wait "word.doc"');                 # Word
system('start /wait "program.txt"');              # Notepad or ...
system('start /wait http://www.perlmonks.org/');  # Favorite browser

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In reply to Re^4: How to use perl to open programs by ikegami
in thread open programs with a particular file! by comet85

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