I think we need a little more info/context.

How are you executing the script?

Are you passing the file path as a command line arg, or is it in a file that is passed as an arg or piped to the script?

Did you try dumping out $metadata_file (via Data::Dumper) prior to the open call to see if it held the value you expected?

There's no need to quote $metadata_file in the open call as demonstrated in the following example

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;

my $filepath = 'C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\ie9props.propdesc';
open my $fh, '<', $filepath or die "can't open '$filepath' $!";

my $file_contents = join '', <$fh>;
print $file_contents;
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&#8745;&#9559;&#9488;<?xml  version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--

    The properties in this file cover the following:

        Microsoft.IE.*

-->
<schema xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="h
+ttp://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2006/propertydescription" schemaV
+ersion="1.0">
    <propertyDescriptionList publisher="Microsoft" product="Internet E
+xplorer">
        <propertyDescription name="Microsoft.IE.FeedItemLocalId" forma
+tID="{E32596B0-1163-4E02-867A-12132DB4BA06}" propID="2">
            <searchInfo inInvertedIndex="false" isColumn="true" maxSiz
+e="256"/>
            <typeInfo type="String" isViewable="false"/>
        </propertyDescription>
        <propertyDescription name="Microsoft.IE.SelectionCount" format
+ID="{1CE0D6BC-536C-4600-B0DD-7E0C66B350D5}" propID="2">
            <searchInfo inInvertedIndex="false" isColumn="true"/>
            <typeInfo type="UInt32" isViewable="false"/>
        </propertyDescription>
        <propertyDescription name="Microsoft.IE.TargetUrl" formatID="{
+1CE0D6BC-536C-4600-B0DD-7E0C66B350D5}" propID="3">
            <searchInfo inInvertedIndex="true" isColumn="true" maxSize
+="4168"/>
            <typeInfo type="String" isViewable="false" isQueryable="tr
+ue"/>
        </propertyDescription>
        <propertyDescription name="Microsoft.IE.TargetUrlHostName" for
+matID="{1CE0D6BC-536C-4600-B0DD-7E0C66B350D5}" propID="4">
            <searchInfo inInvertedIndex="true" isColumn="true" maxSize
+="512"/>
            <typeInfo type="String" isViewable="false" isQueryable="tr
+ue"/>
        </propertyDescription>
        <propertyDescription name="Microsoft.IE.TargetUrlPath" formatI
+D="{1CE0D6BC-536C-4600-B0DD-7E0C66B350D5}" propID="5">
            <searchInfo inInvertedIndex="true" isColumn="true" maxSize
+="4168"/>
            <typeInfo type="String" isViewable="false" isQueryable="tr
+ue"/>
        </propertyDescription>
        <propertyDescription name="Microsoft.IE.Title" formatID="{1CE0
+D6BC-536C-4600-B0DD-7E0C66B350D5}" propID="6">
            <searchInfo inInvertedIndex="true" isColumn="true" maxSize
+="4168"/>
            <typeInfo type="String" isViewable="false" isQueryable="tr
+ue"/>
        </propertyDescription>
        <propertyDescription name="Microsoft.IE.VisitCount" formatID="
+{1CE0D6BC-536C-4600-B0DD-7E0C66B350D5}" propID="7">
            <searchInfo inInvertedIndex="false" isColumn="true"/>
            <typeInfo type="UInt32" isViewable="false"/>
        </propertyDescription>
    </propertyDescriptionList>
</schema>
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