Run batch script with a server path in perl

Question

I have a perl script that goes out and executes a handful of batch scripts. I am only using these batch scripts because batch can parse through a directory of 1000s of files a lot faster than perl, or at least I can't find an fast way in perl to do it. Right now the code is local, so I was using a directory path based on how I mapped my drives to start the scripts, like this:

system("start J:/scoreboard/scripts/Actual/update_current_build.bat "."\"$rows[0][$count]\" "."\"*\" "."\"$output_file\"");

I need to make it more portable so that it can run from any machine. I tried using the server path, but when the batch script executes it says that I have an 'Invalid switch - "/".

system("start //server/share/scoreboard/scripts/Actual/update_current_standards.bat "."\"$output_file\"");

So my ultimate question is, how do I start a batch script using the server path?

It's called a "UNC path"

ikegami
– ikegami

2014-02-03 16:52:44 +00:00
Commented Feb 3, 2014 at 16:52 — ikegami
– ikegami, Commented Feb 3, 2014 at 16:52

ikegami · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-03 19:54:35Z

2

While Windows itself accepts / and \ as a directory separator, not every program does.

>dir c:\
 Volume in drive C is OS
...

>dir c:/
Invalid switch - "".

The problem is that / marks the start of an option (e.g. dir /s/b).

You could simply use the other slash.

system(qq{start \\\\server\\... "$output_file"});

For many of these programs, quotes disambiguate.

>dir "c:/"
 Volume in drive C is OS
...

So we just the need to execute start "//..."? No. start has a weird syntax. If the first argument is quoted, it's treated as the title to use for the console.

start cmd        # Ok
start "cmd"      # XXX
start "" "cmd"   # Ok

So you will need something like the following:

system(qq{start "" "//..." "$output_file"});

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work. This isn't a case where quotes help. It really does want \.

edited Feb 3, 2014 at 19:54

answered Feb 3, 2014 at 16:51

ikegami

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4 Comments

dge888 Over a year ago

Ok your explanation and everything makes sense, but is saying that "The sytem cannot find the path specified" and that it "Cannot find the file \\..\..\update_current_standards.bat"

dge888 Over a year ago

I got rid of the "Cannot find file" error because I had the path wrong, but I am still getting "The system cannot find the path specified" error. The path now looks like:

system(qq{"start \\\\server\\share\\scoreboard\\scripts\\Actual\\update_current_build.bat "."\"$rows[0][$count]\" "."\"*\" "."\"$output_file\""});

dge888 Over a year ago

Alright NOW it is working. I didn't realize that you didn't have the quotes before start and around the path. Thanks!!!

ikegami Over a year ago

I used qq{..."...} instead of "...\"...". They mean the same thing, but the former is just a tad cleaner.

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