Sorry, I was not very accurate in my description of the problem. This occurs when I am trying to use the '&' or the () operators to copy the file. For example
x=drive and directory for the windows system folder
y=drive and directory for a file
a=x+'\xxx xxxx.xxx'
copy file &a to somewhere or copy file (a) to somewhere gives me errors. I tried putting the file name in the format '\'+'"'+'xxx xxxx.xxx'+'"' but that did not help. Perhaps there is some other format?