use backticks => ex: $command=qx{ sort `grep -l 'conf' *` }; #don't confuse ` with '
just wondering, since u have perl installed.

why:
 q#c:\\perl\\bin\\perl.exe -MWin32 -e "Win32::InitiateSystemShutdown(' ','Rebooting',5,1,1);"#;
try:
 qx { `perl -MWin32 -e` "Win32::InitiateSystemShutdown(' ','Rebooting',5,1,1);" } ; #cleaner imo

yea so...i don't use cygwin, linux ftw.