use strict;
use File::DosGlob 'glob';

my @files_to_check = (
    'file_a.txt',
    'file_b.txt'
);

FILE_IN_ALPHA_ORDER:
foreach my $template_file ( sort @files_to_check ) {
    # The next three lines are for peeking at $template_file
    warn "ftf2: '$template_file'\n";
    my $template_file_t2 = qq{"$template_file"};
    warn "ftf2a: '$template_file_t2'\n";

    unless ( -f  ( File::DosGlob::glob qq{"$template_file"} )    ) {
	    warn "8251b: File check, cannot access '$template_file', $!\n\n";
        next FILE_IN_ALPHA_ORDER;
    }
    warn "ftf2b: '$template_file' is okay.\n\n";
}

warn "\n";

FILE_IN_REVERSE_ORDER:
foreach my $template_file ( reverse sort @files_to_check ) {
    # The next three lines are for peeking at $template_file
    warn "ftf3: '$template_file'\n";
    my $template_file_t2 = qq{"$template_file"};
    warn "ftf3a: '$template_file_t2'\n";

    unless ( -f  ( File::DosGlob::glob qq{"$template_file"} )    ) {
	    warn "8251b: File check, cannot access '$template_file', $!\n\n";
        next FILE_IN_REVERSE_ORDER;
    }
    warn "ftf2b: '$template_file' is okay.\n\n";
}


__END__
Results look like:
ftf2: 'file_a.txt'
ftf2a: '"file_a.txt"'
ftf2b: 'file_a.txt' is okay.

ftf2: 'file_b.txt'
ftf2a: '"file_b.txt"'
8251b: File check, cannot access 'file_b.txt', No such file or directory


ftf3: 'file_b.txt'
ftf3a: '"file_b.txt"'
ftf2b: 'file_b.txt' is okay.

ftf3: 'file_a.txt'
ftf3a: '"file_a.txt"'
8251b: File check, cannot access 'file_a.txt', No such file or directory