sending multiple variables to external PERL script for results

Problem; call external perl script with variables as arguments when variables may have spaces or other restricted characters. Details; script needs to process $name $phone $creditcard (as examples) normally this would easily be solved passing the command as $command="myscript.pl $name $phone $ccnum"; $results=passthru($command); and parsing out the argv's in the perl script however, this breaks if $name happens to have a space in it (or other restricted or special characters like ' \ ; and so forth) since it creates an additional arg (or error) "myscript.pl Joe Schmoe 555-1212 1234123412341234" = 4 arguments passed not 3 This particular application is restricted to using preexisting perl libraries and modules, or we would simply recode the entire process in PHP in integrate it more solidly into the solution. perhaps result of being up all night... can't wrap my head around it. Dave