print("Hello\n");
$ret=`echo dog`;
print ("step 1 \$ret is $ret\n");

$SAScmd='c:\\apps\\sas\\sas9~1.1\\sas.exe'
print("step 2 \$SAScmd is $SAScmd\n");

# run a SAS job
# surprisingly this works
$ret=`$SAScmd c:\\perl_test\\test.sas -batch`;
print("step 3 \$ret is $ret\n");

# copy a file
$ret=`copy c:\\perl_test\\test.sas c:\\perl_test\\test_new.sas`;
print("step 4 \$ret is $ret/n");

##</code><code>##

Hello
step 1 $ret is dog

step 2 $SAScmd is c:\apps\sas\sas9~1.1\sas.exe
step 3 $ret is 
step 4 $ret is          1 file(s) copied.

##</code><code>##

Hello
step 1 $ret is 
step 2 $SAScmd is c:\apps\sas\sas9~1.1\sas.exe
step 3 $ret is 
step 4 $ret is