When you define $cmd as a string literal, you need to escape the backslashes, so you need to write:

my $cmd = "find $dir1 \\(! -name /proj/dev_dbdump/files_36  -prune\\) 
+-name $patt -print";
[download]

You many also need to escape the search pattern, depending on what it is

Having said that, I think you would be better off investigating File::Find

kevictor83:

First, I'd suggest you use File::Find instead of invoking find through the shell. Next, there's a nice tool that comes with File::Find that will translate the find command into the equivalent perl code, which you can then modify to do what you like, like so:

$ find2perl ./bin \( ! -name files_36 -prune \) -name "*fiPL.csv*" -pr
+int
#! /usr/bin/perl -w
    eval 'exec /usr/bin/perl -S $0 ${1+"$@"}'
        if 0; #$running_under_some_shell

use strict;
use File::Find ();

# Set the variable $File::Find::dont_use_nlink if you're using AFS,
# since AFS cheats.

# for the convenience of &wanted calls, including -eval statements:
use vars qw/*name *dir *prune/;
*name   = *File::Find::name;
*dir    = *File::Find::dir;
*prune  = *File::Find::prune;

sub wanted;



# Traverse desired filesystems
File::Find::find({wanted => \&wanted}, './bin');
exit;


sub wanted {
    my ($dev,$ino,$mode,$nlink,$uid,$gid);

    (
    (($dev,$ino,$mode,$nlink,$uid,$gid) = lstat($_)) &&
    ! /^files_36\z/s &&
    ($File::Find::prune = 1)
    ) &&
    /^.*fiPL\.csv.*\z/s &&
    print("$name\n");
}
[download]

...roboticus

When your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like your thumb.