>>>>> "Barry" == HP-Israel,ex1 <SHULTZ> writes: Barry> Hello, I've just been using Ruby for a few days, so please Barry> bear with me. I want to copy a file using the 'system' Barry> function. I am running Win NT4, SP5 and have tried: Barry> system 'copy file newfile' Barry> system 'cp file newfile' Barry> system "copy file newfile" Barry> system "cp file newfile" Barry> The copy is never performed, and the value of $? is 32512. Barry> Any help would be appreciated. I would guess that you have to use something like: system 'cmd /c copy file newfile' as 'copy' is not an external but an internal command of the command interpreter 'cmd.exe'. But you could also do it like that: require 'ftools' File::copy 'file', 'newfile' That should be more portable than you trial with 'copy'. Barry> Regards, Barry HTH, \cle