I have the following simple perl script that I cannot execute in cygwin:
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
system("../cat.exe < a.txt > b.txt");
When I run it, the script tells me:
./my_test.pl
'..' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
However I can run the command in the cygwin shell:
$ ../cat.exe < a.txt > b.txt
$ ../cat.exe b.txt
hello
The executable cat.exe exists in the directory above and a.txt in the current working directory.
My version of perl: $ perl -v
This is perl, v5.8.8 built for MSWin32-x86-multi-thread (with 12 registered patches, see perl -V for more detail)
You're using a perl built for Windows (ActiveState? Strawberry?), not the Cygwin version. It invokes cmd.exe for system(), which thinks that .. is the command and / introduces an option.
Try changing the the system() call to:
system("..\\cat.exe < a.txt > b.txt");
But you should normally be using the Cygwin version of perl when running a script from bash.
What is the output of the following commands?
echo "$PATH"
type -a perl
/usr/bin/perl -v
From what we've seen so far, it looks like you've installed some Windows-specific Perl with its perl.exe in your Cygwin /usr/bin directory. If so, then (a) uninstall it (you can reinstall it elsewhere if you like), and (b) re-install the "perl" package via Cygwin's setup.exe.
(And add use warnings; after use strict; in your Perl scripts. This isn't related to your problem, but it's good practice.)