How do I make Perl scripts recognize parameters in the Win32 cmd console?

Question

When I invoke my Perl scripts in the Windows environment without invoking perl first, the parameters are not passed to my script.

For example,

Answer 1

To sum up.

ftype is old and cmd.exe doesn't care whatever it says.

The real deal is the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\perl.exe\shell\open\command thing.

Just run: reg add HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\perl.exe\shell\open\command /ve /d "C:\strawberry\perl\bin\perl.exe \"%1\" %*" /f

and everything will be ok. (* given that "C:\strawberry\perl\bin\perl.exe" is the exact path to your perl installation.*)

/ve is meant to work on de “(Default)” REG_SZ value /d is to assign “data” to the “value” /f to force substitution (or overwriting) of the preexisting value

In fact, if assoc .pl=Whatever and ftype Whatever doesn't exist (never assigning a value to it, or doing ftype Whatever= to unassign), the scripts could still be invoked without prepending perl.exe.

So, if using Windows >= 6.0 (Vista, 2008, 7, etc.) just forget that the commands assoc and ftype exist at all. Don't bother. Go reg.exe!

Answer 2

I found out what the problem was. Although the ftype and the assoc values were set as suggested, the actual behavior on my system seems to be determined by the registry key

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\perl.exe\shell\open\command

It should have a (Default) string value of "C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe" "%1" %*

When I found this entry, it was set to "C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe" "%1". Changing it immediately fixed the problem.

Why it was set that way in the first place? I don't know. Maybe from a previous installation?

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions, and I hope this answer helps someone else, too.

Answer 3

Original author answer works. Here's a complete registry file for manually installing PERL on Windows, just add to PATH environment variable: ";C:\PERL\bin;" and make a perl.reg file with notepad containing this:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pl]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pl]
@="Perl"
"PerceivedType"="text"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pl\Perl]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pl\Perl\ShellNew]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pl\PersistentHandler]
@="{5e941d80-bf96-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\perl.exe]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\perl.exe\shell]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\perl.exe\shell\open]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\perl.exe\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Perl\\bin\\perl.exe\" \"%1\" %*"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Perl]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Perl\shell]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Perl\shell\Open]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Perl\shell\Open\command]
@="\"C:\\Perl\\bin\\perl.exe\" \"%1\" %*"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\pl_auto_file]
@=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\pl_auto_file\shell]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\pl_auto_file\shell\open]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\pl_auto_file\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Perl\\bin\\perl.exe\" \"%1\" %*"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\perl.exe]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\perl.exe\shell]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\perl.exe\shell\open]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\perl.exe\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Perl\\bin\\perl.exe\" \"%1\" %*"

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.pl]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.pl]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.pl\OpenWithList]
"a"="perl.exe"
"MRUList"="ab"
"b"="NOTEPAD.EXE"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.pl\OpenWithProgids]
"pl_auto_file"=hex(0):
"Perl"=hex(0):

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Perl]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Perl\shell]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Perl\shell\Open]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Perl\shell\Open\command]
@="\"C:\\Perl\\bin\\perl.exe\" \"%1\" %*"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\pl_auto_file]
@=""
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\pl_auto_file\shell]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\pl_auto_file\shell\open]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\pl_auto_file\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Perl\\bin\\perl.exe\" \"%1\" %*"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Perl]
@="C:\\PERL\\"
"BinDir"="C:\\Perl\\bin\\perl.exe"

Answer 4

Hmmm... sounds like the file association for *.pl is messed up somehow. I'm not on a Windows box, so I can't test this. You can check the file association stuff with either the ASSOC or FTYPE command on the command-line. IIRC, "ASSOC .pl" should tell you what the file type is and "FTYPE filetype command" tells the shell what to do with a Perl script. Try something like:

C:\> ASSOC .pl=perlscript
C:\> FTYPE perlscript=C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe %1 %*

From the looks of one of the command references that should do the trick. My guess is that the current association is not passing the parameters along to the script. You should be able to check that by using ASSOC .pl to figure out what the name of the file association is and then using FTYPE to print out the command that the shell is going to execute.

Update

I found an interesting thing that I want to note for posterity. I started seeing exactly this problem on a friends machine at work with respect to some Python scripts. ASSOC and FTYPE resulted in the expected output but the parameters were still not being passed along - exactly what was originally reported.

After a little digging, I found that the registry settings were created somewhere along the line as REG_SZ values. I deleted them and re-created them using ASSOC and FTYPE and everything started working... looking at the registry gave me the answer the new values were created as REG_EXPAND_SZ! These worked exactly as expected.

Answer 5

I found this additional location in the registry that had to be updated before it would work for me. Note: The name after HKEY_USERS may be different on your machine.

---

Add %* to default string:

---

HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1399284159-2775065347-350672949-4058_Classes\pl_auto_file\shell\open\command "D:\Perl\bin\perl.exe" "%1" %*

Answer 6

Update: Given that the following is correct, the only thing left to make sure is that command extensions are not turned off. Try:

cmd /e:on

on the command line before you run your tests. See also Windows XP cmd documentation:

Enabling and disabling command extensions

Command extensions are enabled by default in Windows XP. You can disable them for a particular process by using /e:off. You can enable or disable extensions for all cmd command-line options on a computer or user session by setting the following REG_DWORD values:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\EnableExtensions\REG_DWORD

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\EnableExtensions\REG_DWORD

Set the REG_DWORD value to either 0x1 (that is, enabled) or 0x0 (that is, disabled) in the registry by using Regedit.exe. User-specified settings take precedence over computer settings, and command-line options take precedence over registry settings.

E:\Temp> assoc .pl
.pl=Perl

E:\Temp> ftype Perl
Perl="C:\opt\Perl\bin\perl.exe" "%1" %*

E:\Temp> @echo %PATHEXT%
.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.PL;.PLX;.WPL;.py;.pyw

E:\Temp> cat t.pl
print "'$_'\n" for @ARGV;

E:\Temp> t a b c d e f g h j
'a'
'b'
'c'
'd'
'e'
'f'
'g'
'h'
'j'

I have used pretty much every ActiveState Perl distribution since 2004. These settings are enough to make it work.