running \copy through perl dbi ?

Hi:

I'm trying to run a PG client side "\copy" command from a perl script.  I
tried using $dbh->do("\\copy ...") but it barffed when it saw the '\'...
ERROR:  syntax error at or near "\"

I can do this with a command line approach, attaching to the DB  then run
using...
-c "\copy ...".  But I was wondering if there is a more elegant way to do
this, maybe some sort of legal SQL command that Perl/DBI would swallow ???

Thanks in Advance !