title: All of a sudden, perl scripts don't work unless I prefix them with "perl" and give full path to the script
body: <p>I've been using my own personal environment that's worked consistently for over 20 years. I started incorporating many perl scripts about 14 years ago.
  I've been using the same tree of command-line interpreters for 22 yrs (NDOS->4DOS->4NT->TCMD, all the same program really).</p>
  
  <p>I just switched from ActiveState windows perl to Strawberry Perl.</p>
  
  <p>For years, this is all I've needed to run a perl script:</p>
  
  <pre><code>SET .pl=perl
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This is how you specify what program to open things with.</p>
  
  <p>this I can simply do:</p>
  
  <pre><code>c:\&gt;test.pl
  Hello, world!
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Things just worked. Forever.</p>
  
  <p>Today, in a week-old OS, things just stopped working. </p>
  
  <p>Perl scripts will run, but they won't DO anything. No error. No output. Nothing.</p>
  
  <p>The only way it works is if I prefix the script with "perl" (in which case, my path isn't searched because script name is now a parameter, so I'm left having to fill in the full path for the script)</p>
  
  <p>Here's what it's like to be me:</p>
  
  <pre><code>C:\&gt;test.pl
  
  C:\&gt;perl test.pl 
  Can't open perl script "test.pl": No such file or directory
  
  C:\&gt;perl c:\bat\test.pl 
  Hello, world!
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Note that this was working fine yesterday, even earlier today. I don't know what changed this and what broke it, and I've looked quite a long time, found similar but not identical issues - and no fix has helped.</p>
  
  <p>I hvae a boatload of scripts. I would really hate to have to insert the world "perl" before every one of them, and then qualify the full path! </p>
  
  <p>Realistically, I will probably have to write a perl.bat wrapper that converts the parameter filename into a fully qualified path, and explicitly calls perl.</p>
  
  <p>I really don't want to do that. That's a ban-aid solution. I want to understand what is wrong, address is, and resolve it. </p>
  
  <p>I'm starting to hate Windows 7...</p>