What happens when you escape the space?

The Windows command shell (cmd.exe) expects whitespace in arguments to be properly quoted, and "properly quoted" in its terms means to use double quotes to surround the file name.

As double quotes treat the backslash special, single-backslashing a space character doesn't make much sense to me. I would try

my $Command = q{"C:\Program Files (x86)\vs.exe"};
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or the double-quoted variant

my $Command = qq{"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\vs.exe"};
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Corion is correct, this is the way to do it. I usually write a quick sub that will process command line arguments for me:

sub argify {
    while (my $aref = shift) {
       @$aref = map "/"$_/"", @$aref;
    }
}
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I tried the folllowing

my $CommandNew =   qq("C:\\Program Files (x86)\\vs.exe");
print "Command is $CommandNew\n";
my $ID = Proc::Background->new($CommandNew);
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ERROR: Test.pl: cannot find absolute location of "C:\Program

Also tried

my $CommandNew =   q(C:\\Program Files (x86)\\vs.exe);
print "Command is $CommandNew\n";
my $ID = Proc::Background->new($CommandNew);
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ERROR: Test.pl: no executable program located at C:\Program
I am still stuck

I tried the folllowing

my $CommandNew =   qq("C:\\Program Files (x86)\\vs.exe");
print "Command is $CommandNew\n";
my $ID = Proc::Background->new($CommandNew);
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ERROR: Test.pl: cannot find absolute location of "C:\Program

Also tried

my $CommandNew =   q(C:\\Program Files (x86)\\vs.exe);
print "Command is $CommandNew\n";
my $ID = Proc::Background->new($CommandNew);
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ERROR: Test.pl: no executable program located at C:\Program
I am still stuck

Looking inside the Win32 component of Proc::Background it does some pretty dubious manipulations with the program component of its arg(s), including if, -- after it has done some other incomprehensible manipulations -- the length of the command argument is 0, then it wraps that zero length arg in quotes:

      if (length($arg) == 0 or $arg =~ /\s/) {
        $arg = "\"$arg\"";
      }
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None of which bodes well for success.

If all you need is to start a process in the background, a simple:

my $pid = system 1, 'c:/program Files (x86)/vs.exe';
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Does the job.

if( kill $pid, 0 ) { ... will tell you if it is still running.

kill $pid, 3; will terminate it.

waitpid $pid,0; my $retcode = $?; will get the return code.

On a windows command line, your parameters are all (white?)space separated. If you want a zero-length parameter you need to double quote it so it isn't ignored, like so:

USAGE:  mangle.exe [filename] [password] [index number]
mangle.exe unprotected.dat "" 42
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Parameters that are all whitespace have the same problem and solution.

No idea on why it had to be done that way though.

If you want a zero-length parameter

Hm. Okay, you got me there. Mind you, in 30 years I don't remember ever having used a command that took a "zero length parameter".

Every command I'm aware of that takes a password has an option to supply it. And optional parameters always come at the end.

---

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Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.

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In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

The start of some sanity?