Re: System call doesn't recognise '>'

Does it work if you specify the absolute path to the shell (e.g. via COMSPEC)? I.e.

system "$ENV{COMSPEC} /C $command $arg1 $arg2 $arg3 > $outfile";
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Update: Presumably, the directory in which cmd.exe resides (typically C:\WINDOWS\system32) isn't on your PATH.

In case of doubt, you might want to print out those variables' content:

set path
set comspec
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(COMSPEC is not guaranteed to hold the correct path to your command shell — after all, it's just an environment variable. By default, it should, however. At least, it's worth a try. (Perl doesn't use COMSPEC for this very reason of being unreliable.) In case it doesn't hold the correct path, you could also try directly specifying system = "c:\\windows\\system32\\cmd.exe /c ...", after having verified that it in fact exists...)

Update2: Then again, it might also be some variation of this weird issue... (not sure though).

Comment on Re: System call doesn't recognise '>' Select or Download Code

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Re^2: System call doesn't recognise '>' by Lauras (Initiate) on Dec 10, 2008 at 22:18 UTC
Comspec contained the path to cmd.exe But the snippet of code you included didn't work. cmd.exe was indeed not part of the PATH. I tried: `use Env qw(@PATH); #print "@PATH\n"; unshift @PATH, "C:\\windows\\system32\\cmd.exe"; #print @PATH; system "C:\\windows\\system32\\cmd.exe /C @array > $outfile"; shift @PATH;` [download] The path to the command shell was added, but the result was still: `Can't spawn "cmd.exe": No such file or directory at D:\advanced_programming\test_syscall.pl line 26.` Or isn't it that what you suggested?	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: System call doesn't recognise '>' by Corion (Patriarch) on Dec 10, 2008 at 22:24 UTC
`unshift @PATH, "C:\\windows\\system32\\cmd.exe";` [download] That's not how the PATH environment variable works, neither in Windows nor in Unix. The PATH environment variable contains directories not executable files. Try `unshift @PATH, "C:\\windows\\system32";` [download] instead, and consider not running a weirdly configured environment. Many Windows programs will fail if %WINDIR%\system32 is not in the path.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^4: System call doesn't recognise '>' by Lauras (Initiate) on Dec 11, 2008 at 09:19 UTC
`use Env qw(@PATH); print "@PATH\n"; unshift @PATH, "C:\\windows\\system32"; print @PATH; system "C:\\windows\\system32\\cmd.exe /C @array > $outfile"; shift @PATH;` [download] It works!! Thank you very very much!	[reply] [d/l]
Re^5: System call doesn't recognise '>' by Corion (Patriarch) on Dec 11, 2008 at 09:23 UTC
Re^3: System call doesn't recognise '>' by almut (Canon) on Dec 10, 2008 at 22:57 UTC
Something else to try: Perl (Windows only) provides for this rarely used facility to set a custom command shell via the environment variable PERL5SHELL. In other words, on the command line that you're going to call your Perl program from, set that variable (prior to calling the program): `set PERL5SHELL=c:\\windows\\system32\\cmd.exe /c` [download] (yes, with doubled backslashes) And maybe try something trivial first, e.g. `#!perl system "echo foo >dummy";` [download] In theory, you should then find a file "dummy" with the content "foo". In case that works, try your real command...	[reply] [d/l] [select]

It works!!