http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=794221


in reply to Issue with backticks in ActiveState

You probably have a rmdir.exe somewhere in your PATH.
Check to verify: where rmdir.exe.

The rmdir, probably from the unxutils will not accept options with slashes, contrary to the cmd built-in rmdir.

A perl -e "`rmdir /s /q testdir`;" works flawless for me (no exe present here).