...
foreach(@_) {
    # skip if it doesn't start with either a space or backslash
    next if (!/^[ \\]/);
    # skip if it's just "." or ".."
    next if (/^\s*\.{1,2}\s/);

    if (/^\\/) { $path = "$_\\" }
    elsif (/^\s*(.*\S)\s{5,}([HDRSA]+)\s*(\d+)\s*(.*)/) {
        my ($file,$att,$size,$date) = ($1,$2,$3,$4);
        my $ext = ( $file =~ /\.([^.]+)$/ ) ? $1 : "DIR";
        print ...;
    } }

##</code><code>##

 Also remember that "|" is interpreted as a literal within
 square brackets, so if you write "[fee|fie|foe]" you're
 really only matching "[feio|]".