my $sh = '/home/kyle/harm/spacey name.sh'; open my $sh_fh, '>', $sh or die "Can't write '$sh': $!"; print $sh_fh 'echo "spaces are fun!"'; close $sh_fh; chmod 0755, $sh or die "Can't chmod '$sh': $!"; $sh =~ s/ /\\ /g; print qq{I shall now: system( "$sh" );\n}; system( "$sh" ); __END__ I shall now: system( "/home/kyle/harm/spacey\ name.sh" ); spaces are fun!