Can't load this path into Perl

Anonymous Monk has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

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Re: Can't load this path into Perl by kyle (Abbot) on Jan 22, 2009 at 21:27 UTC
`my $pcname = 'pee-cee-name'; my $log = "\\\\$pcname\\c\$\\windows\\windowsupdate.log"; print "$log\n"; __END__ \\pee-cee-name\c$\windows\windowsupdate.log` [download] Inside quotes, a backslash is an escape character. To get a literal backslash, you need two of them, and you need one before the dollar sign so it's not introducing a variable.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Can't load this path into Perl by mr_mischief (Monsignor) on Jan 22, 2009 at 23:34 UTC
In addition to what good advice ~~Limbic~Region~~ kyle already gave, note that in most cases Perl code on Windows can use forward slashes in path names. Consider this, tested to work even with UNC paths: `my $log = '//AIR/c$/windows/windowsupdate.log'; # "AIR" is the COMPUTE +RNAME of one of my systems` [download] Also note that variables are interpolated in double quotes (or in `qq()` expressions) and are not interpolated in single quotes (or in `q()` expressions). As an additional Windows-specific tip, remember that `C:\Windows` is just a default. What you really want for the Windows directory to be safer is the `WINDIR` environment variable for the system in question. A hard-coded path will be right most of the time, though, or if you have enough control over the target machines to guarantee it. Update: credited the wrong monk above. I'm not sure how I managed that. Sorry, kyle.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Can't load this path into Perl by poolpi (Hermit) on Jan 23, 2009 at 11:54 UTC
If you need to deal with file names, see this core module in PathTools: File::Spec . (At least since Perl 5.00405) `my $full_path = File::Spec->catpath( $volume, $directory, $file );` [download] hth, PooLpi 'Ebry haffa hoe hab im tik a bush'. Jamaican proverb	[reply] [d/l]