$foo = <<'__HERE__';
\\some.address.or.whatever\subdir\
__HERE__
chomp $foo;
print ">", $foo ,"<";             # >\\some.address.or.whatever\subdir\<

##</code><code>##

sub s2b {   # slash to backslash
  (my $str = shift) =~ tr#/#\\#;
  return $str;
}
 
my $path = s2b '//some.address.or.whatever/subdir/';

##</code><code>##

use Data::Dump;

sub parsepath {
  my $str=shift;
  return split /\s+/,$str;
}

my %path = parsepath <<'__HERE__';
install    \\some.address.or.whatever\subdir\
deinstall  \\other.address.or.whatever\subdir\
__HERE__

dd \%path;

##</code><code>##

{
  deinstall => "\\\\other.address.or.whatever\\subdir\\",
  install   => "\\\\some.address.or.whatever\\subdir\\",
}