From: budsterwhite@...
Date: 2000-12-31T22:10:01+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:8404] Problem launching external progs

ruby 1.6.2 (2000-11-27) [i386-cygwin]

I noticed a few oddities with running external programs from Ruby
under Win98.

`dir`.each() {|x| print x}			#<1> does not work 
                                                #  (command not found)
`command /c dir`.each() {|x| print x}		#<2> does not work
                                                #  (command not found)
`command.com /c dir`.each() {|x| print x}	#<3> works

I don't expect <1> to work because the dir command is built-in to
command.com. There is no dir.exe or dir.com. I expected <2> to work
but after a bit of experimentation I found <3> works.

Assume a batch file b.bat containing the single line 'dir'.

`b`.each() {|x| print x}	# does not work (command not found)
`b.bat`.each() {|x| print x}	# works

Programs ending with ".EXE" run correctly even the ".EXE" is left off.

`ls`.each() {|x| print x}	#works
`ls.exe`.each() {|x| print x}	#works