> def backtick(cmd,*args)
>  ¨ÂÏ®ðïðå­§© ûüæü æ®òåáä åøåã¨ãí䬪áòçó©ý
> end
>
> backtick 'du', '-sh', filename

Thanks! That's a very nice solution, and more concise than I would
have thought possible. I'll use this until ruby-1.9 or 2.0 becomes
standard.

-Dan