Consider the merits of short code.

/*
returns 0 on success, otherwise a non-zero value
*/
local fn SystemCommand( cmd as Str255 )
'~'1
fn FBPStr2CStr( @cmd )
end fn = fn system( @cmd )


dim as long  result
result = fn SystemCommand( "plutil /escaped/path/to/file" )
long if ( result )
// either file does not exist or it is not a valid property list
end if


Robert P.