running \copy through perl dbi ?

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 !