while(my($key,$val) = each(%ret)) {
  my @parts = split(/\./, $key);
  my $id = '';
  foreach my $add (@parts) {

##</code><code>##

    $id .= $add;

##</code><code>##

    if($id eq $key) {
      next;
    }

##</code><code>##

    if(!$ret{$id}{'count'}) {
      $ret{$id}{'count'} = 0;
      $ret{$id}{'head_count'} = 'head_count';
      $ret{$id}{'cat_count'} = 'cat_count';
      $ret{$id}{'subcat_count'} = 'subcat_count';
    }
    $ret{$id}{'count'} += $ret{$key}{'count'};
    $id .= '.';
  }

}

##</code><code>##

while(my($key,$val) = each(%ret)) {
    $id = $key;
    if(!$ret{$id}{'count'}) {
      $ret{$id}{'count'} = 0;
      $ret{$id}{'head_count'} = 'head_count';
      $ret{$id}{'cat_count'} = 'cat_count';
      $ret{$id}{'subcat_count'} = 'subcat_count';
    }
## Though this doesn't do much?
    $ret{$id}{'count'} += $ret{$key}{'count'};
}

##</code><code>##

my @keys = sort keys %cats;
my $cnt = scalar @keys;
...
@keys = keys %ids;
$cnt = scalar @keys;
...
@keys = keys %ret;
$cnt = scalar @keys;

##</code><code>##

my $cnt = keys %cat;
...
$cnt = keys %ids;
...
$cnt = keys %ret;