Cannot run scp.exe command from perl script under windows 10 64bit - windows

Question

I am trying to download a file from a remote server using the following command
scp -i "c:\users\userX\keyfile.ppk" user1#server.org:"/home/user1/file1.txt" "c:\temp\fileNEW.txt"
If I open a command prompt and run the command the file is downloaded. However, I need to put the command in a perl script. if I put the following commands in a perl script
my $Var1='scp -i "c:\users\userX\keyfile.ppk" user1#server.org:"/home/user1/file1.txt" "c:\temp\fileNEW.txt"';
system(qq($Var1));
where the folder c:\temp exists on the local machine running the perl command.
Then I get the following error
CreateProcessW failed error:2
posix_spawn: No such file or directory
Changing $Var1 to
my $Var1='scp';
and running the script produces
usage: scp [-346BCpqrv] [-c cipher] [-F ssh_config] [-i identity_file]
[-l limit] [-o ssh_option] [-P port] [-S program] source ... target
From this I have deduced that there is some sort of syntax error in my initial definition of $Var1
If I use any of the following values for $Var1
my $Var1='scp -i "c:\users\userX\keyfile.ppk"';
my $Var1='scp -i "c:\users\userX\keyfile.ppk" user1#server.org:"/home/user1/file1.txt"';
I get the same output
usage: scp [-346BCpqrv] [-c cipher] [-F ssh_config] [-i identity_file]
[-l limit] [-o ssh_option] [-P port] [-S program] source ... target
However, if I try any of the following:
my $Var1='scp -i "c:\users\userX\keyfile.ppk" user1#server.org:"/home/user1/file1.txt" "c:\temp\fileNEW.txt"';
my $Var1='scp -i "c:\users\userX\keyfile.ppk" user1#server.org:"/home/user1/file1.txt" "c:\\temp\\fileNEW.txt"';
my $Var1='scp -i "c:\users\userX\keyfile.ppk" user1#server.org:"/home/user1/file1.txt" "c:/temp/fileNEW.txt"';
my $Var1='scp -i "c:\users\userX\keyfile.ppk" user1#server.org:"/home/user1/file1.txt" "c:\fileNEW.txt"';
my $Var1='scp -i "c:\users\userX\keyfile.ppk" user1#server.org:"/home/user1/file1.txt" "c:\\fileNEW.txt"';
my $Var1='scp -i "c:\users\userX\keyfile.ppk" user1#server.org:"/home/user1/file1.txt" "c:/fileNEW.txt"';
my $Var1='scp -i "c:\users\userX\keyfile.ppk" user1#server.org:"/home/user1/file1.txt" "c:\temp"';
my $Var1='scp -i "c:\users\userX\keyfile.ppk" user1#server.org:"/home/user1/file1.txt" "c:\\temp"';
my $Var1='scp -i "c:\users\userX\keyfile.ppk" user1#server.org:"/home/user1/file1.txt" "c:/temp"';
I get the error
CreateProcessW failed error:2
posix_spawn: No such file or directory
So, is the problem the output folder or something else?

Answer 1

I think maybe the double quotes on the first argument are not removed if you use the 1-arg form of system(). Try to pass the arguments in an array instead:
system('scp', '-i', 'c:\users\userX\keyfile.ppk', 'user1#server.org:/home/user1/file1.txt', 'c:\temp\fileNEW.txt');