MS system open file with space

Dear monks

It's a trivial question that was already discussed in the past...but unfortunatelly I am not able to make it work. I just want to open in Windows a folder knowing the path and its name. I usually do it with system("start $dir_to_open"). This just works fine exept if the folder name has spaces. I've tried with:

$folder_name="AA BB";
my $dir_to_open = "files\\data\\$folder_name\"; or
my $dir_to_open = "files\\data\\\"$folder_name\""; or
my $dir_to_open = "files/data/\"$folder_name\"";

system("start $dir_to_open");
[download]

Windows just prompts an error message (path not found). What I am doing wrong?

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Re: MS system open file with space by BrowserUk (Pope) on Feb 20, 2013 at 19:14 UTC
Use: `$path = "c:\\program files"; system qq[ start "" "$path" ];` With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday' Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error. "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: MS system open file with space by SuicideJunkie (Priest) on Feb 20, 2013 at 19:17 UTC
Under XP: `c:\> start c:\` [download] (Pops explorer window showing c:\) `c:\> start "c:\program files"` [download] (Pops useless command prompt window at default directory) `c:\> start explorer "c:\program files"` [download] (Pops explorer window at c:\program files)	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: MS system open file with space by BrowserUk (Pope) on Feb 20, 2013 at 20:23 UTC
c:\> start "c:\program files" (Pops useless command prompt window at default directory) That's because the optional first argument to start is a window title. If the first argument begins with ", then it is taken as a title -- take a look at the titlebar of that useless command prompt window. To disable that effect, prefix the directory with a dummy title:`start "" "c:\program files"` With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday' Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error. "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: MS system open file with space by Dallaylaen (Beadle) on Feb 21, 2013 at 07:12 UTC
Writing this without a Windows machine at hand, but what about using list form of `system` instead? It should escape the arguments for you. `system ('start', $dir_to_open);` [download] Does this solve the problem?	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: MS system open file with space by BillKSmith (Friar) on Feb 21, 2013 at 13:54 UTC
When a pathname includes spaces, windows requires double quotes around the entire path, as BrowserUK has already shown. Bill	[reply]


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MS system open file with space

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