When you use a shell command like:
C:\>perl script.pl >outfile
The argument >outfile never reaches the Perl script. The shell interprets it as you asking to execute perl script.pl and send its output to outfile. As far as Perl knows, there are no command-line arguments to script.pl. If you want to optionally use the filename to change your output behavior, you'll have to do so without using the > character as the first character of your argument.

In reply to Re: Append to file or create file depending on input filename. by bellaire
in thread Append to file or create file depending on input filename. by markuhs

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