# Run external program escape charaters
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-external-program-escape-charaters/60896
**Category:** New to Julia
**Created:** [May 10, 2021, 3:14pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-external-program-escape-charaters/60896 "2021-05-10T15:14:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@LinasBa](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/LinasBa)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2021, 3:14pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-external-program-escape-charaters/60896/1 "2021-05-10T15:14:12Z")
Hello,
I’m trying to run .exe file, but Julia command doesn’t seem to work correctly.
.bat file that works:
```shell
cmd /min /C "set __COMPAT_LAYER=RUNASINVOKER && start "" "C:/Users/User/AppData/Local/Programs/My Program.exe""
```
Julia command doesn’t work:
```julia
run(`cmd /min /C "set __COMPAT_LAYER=RUNASINVOKER && start "" "C:/Users/User/AppData/Local/Programs/My Program.exe""`; wait=false)
Process(`cmd /min /C 'set __COMPAT_LAYER=RUNASINVOKER && start C:/Users/User/AppData/Local/Programs/My' Program.exe`, ProcessRunning)
```
I couldn’t figure out how to fix this.
---
### Author:  [@stevengj](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/stevengj)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2021, 3:21pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-external-program-escape-charaters/60896/2 "2021-05-10T15:21:10Z")
Escape the embedded quotes: `run(`cmd /min /C "set __COMPAT_LAYER=RUNASINVOKER && start \"\" \"C:/Users/User/AppData/Local/Programs/My Program.exe\""`; wait=false)`
---
### Author:  [@LinasBa](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/LinasBa)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2021, 6:15pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-external-program-escape-charaters/60896/3 "2021-05-10T18:15:25Z")
> [@stevengj](#):
>
> run(`cmd /min /C "set __COMPAT_LAYER=RUNASINVOKER && start \"\" \"C:/Users/User/AppData/Local/Programs/My Program.exe\""`; wait=false)
Thanks for reply, but that didn’t work for me. Getting windows error:
```julia
julia> run(`cmd /min /C "set __COMPAT_LAYER=RUNASINVOKER && start \"\" \"C:/Users/User/AppData/Local/Programs/My Program.exe\""`; wait=false)
Process(`cmd /min /C 'set __COMPAT_LAYER=RUNASINVOKER && start "" "C:/Users/User/AppData/Local/Programs/My Program.exe"'`, ProcessRunning)
Windows cannot find '\\'.
```
---
### Author:  [@bernhard](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/bernhard)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2021, 7:02am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-external-program-escape-charaters/60896/4 "2021-05-12T07:02:19Z")
I am not sure how to fix your original problem.
What is the purpose of the two double quotes after start?
But as a workaround (if you have not done so already) you could consider to create the .bat file with Julia and then run it.
you may want to consider `mktempdir()` to create a temporary directory.
---
### Author:  [@LinasBa](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/LinasBa)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2021, 8:22am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/run-external-program-escape-charaters/60896/5 "2021-05-12T08:22:39Z")
Thanks for suggestion. Before implementing your workaround I thought I’d give one last run at quoting random parts of command. I finally succeeded, but have no idea why this is working and previous one isn’t.
```julia
run(`cmd /min /C set __COMPAT_LAYER=RUNASINVOKER '&&' start '' 'C:/Users/User/AppData/Local/Programs/My Program.exe'`; wait=false)
```
Double quotes after start are needed to pass second argument.