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#!/usr/bin/perl --
use strict;
use warnings;
use Path::Class qw/ dir file /;
use Data::Dump qw/ dd pp /;
my $goner = dir('temp3k');
my $gonee = dir( $goner, 'ro/sham/bo' );
$gonee->mkpath( { verbose => 1 } );
$gonee->rmtree( { verbose => 1 } );
$gonee->mkpath( { verbose => 0 } );
$goner->rmtree( { verbose => 1 } );
__END__
mkdir temp3k
mkdir temp3k\ro
mkdir temp3k\ro\sham
mkdir temp3k\ro\sham\bo
rmdir temp3k\ro\sham\bo
rmdir bo
rmdir sham
rmdir ro
rmdir temp3k
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I imagine the behaviour you're seeing because dir() is a blessed hash

$ perl -le " use Data::Dump; use Path::Class; dd( dir( ) );
bless({ dirs => ["."], file_spec_class => undef, volume => "" }, "Path
+::Class::Dir")
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And File::Paths checks to see if its a hash and it is, so its used as \%opt