perl, version 5.8.8
Microsoft Windows XP Pro, SP2

I have a data file containing one or more windows folder paths which I load into an array. When I work through the array and attempt to use the folder path it is not recognized as a valid path. Each line in the data file looks like the following.

C:\HELP\Docs\R2009\sp01\

For this exercise I am using a simple file test to verify the existance of the folder. The actual script uses strict, warnings, and error checking.

my $datafile = "C:\\HELP\\PerlScripts\\Test2.dat";
my (@PATHS);
open (DATAFILE,"< $datafile");

while (defined (my $line = <DATAFILE>)) {
    chomp($line);
    push (@PATHS,$line);
}

foreach my $path (@PATHS) {
    if (-d $path) {
        print "Found $path \n";
    } else {
        print "DID NOT FIND $path \n";
    }
}

[download]

The previous example code prints "DID NOT FIND C:\HELP\Docs\R2009\sp01\"

The result is the same when the data file entry is C:\\HELP\\Docs\\R2009\\sp01\\

I even went so far as to split the path on "\\" and used join to reconstruct the file path but the results were the same. I assume that I am missing sommething (hopefully something simple) and that one of you fine folks will be able to point that out to me.

Thanks in advance.

In reply to Trouble using a Win32 file path in an array by geo

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