foreach my $path ( keys %paths )
{

##</code><code>##

# : N.B. We explicitly iterate over the paths in order of the
#   number of directory components.  This is so we don't create
#   directories for a child path before creating directories for a
#   parent path.

# : sort the keys to %path by the number of directory components and
#   then by a string compare.  (both comparisons are ascending.)
my @sorted_paths = sort { $a =~ tr/\\// <=> $b =~ tr/\\//  ||
                          $a cmp $b
                        } keys %paths;

# : foreach $path in the @sorted_paths array
    foreach my $path (@sorted_paths) {