Your recollections and posted code check out. Bravo! I consider this a strong result for untangling a windows 10 machine:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use 5.016;
## File::Find for windows, handling junctions
## https://perlmonks.org/?node_id=11104464
use File::Find;
use Cwd;
## https://metacpan.org/pod/Win32API::File
use Win32API::File qw'GetFileAttributes :FILE_ATTRIBUTE_';
use File::Basename;

my $current = cwd;
my $VERBOSE = 1;

find( \&pm_beneath, $current, );
say "--------------";
find( \&pm_beneath, "C:/Strawberry", );

sub isjunc {
  return GetFileAttributes( $_[0] ) & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_REPARSE_POINT;
}

sub pm_beneath {
  if (-d) {    # junctions show up as TRUE for `-d`
    if ( isjunc($File::Find::name) ) {

      # if junction, don't bother creating checking destination direct
+ory existence,
      # and don't try to recurse into it
      $File::Find::prune = 1;
      printf( "[%s] %-12s'%s'\n",
        scalar(localtime), "JUNCTION:", $File::Find::name )
        if ($VERBOSE);
      return;
    }

  }

  my $basename = basename($File::Find::name);
  return unless $basename =~ /\.pm$/;
  print "$File::Find::name\n";
  my $access_age = -A $basename;
  print "    $basename\n";
  printf "access age in days: %.2f\n", $access_age;
}

__END__
[download]

I understand and agree now. The other script I presented in the original post is still ailing:

Thanks for comments,

Can I make a template from a garden variety lexical variable?

When I'm silent on threads where I've asked questions, it is usually time where I hit the reading that responders post and try out all the elbow grease I can muster, as I make keystrokes writing scripts that are imperfect. Occasionally, I get a couple good ones to post, and I think this falls into that category.

Text::Template is too big a hammer for this nail. Native perl is enough.

my $tag_pair = '<x></x>'; new_string =~ s/x/${letter}/g;

The system call at the end of this is for windows. I intend to ask the perl hive mind how to make a grown-ups' switch control to probe for what OS the script is being run on, but not here, as the premise that I was on a windows machine was in the original post. Furthermore, I'm 5 deep in terms of the response levels, and I don't want to start anything new. It's impossible to show the output without running a script on it to substitute out special characters, the ones you always need in better writeups. We want to end up with a real file, so we can make that the basis of showing code and discussing it in terms of other sources on pm and the internet. Better writeups reference others, IMO. I guess what I can show for output is the ultimate file created by Path::Tiny:

created file C:/Users/tblaz/Documents/evelyn/perlmonks/writeups/21-08-2019-10-33-27.monk.txt

Source:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use 5.011;
use Path::Tiny;
use POSIX qw(strftime);

# initialization that must precede main data structure
# User: enter a subdirectory you would like to create
#       enter a subdirectory of this^^^ for output

my $ts     = "perlmonks";
my $output = "writeups";

## turning things to Path::Tiny
my $abs   = path(__FILE__)->absolute;
my $path1 = Path::Tiny->cwd;
my $path2 = path( $path1, $ts );
say "abs is $abs";
say "path1 is $path1";
say "path2 is $path2";
print "This script will build the above path2. Proceed? (y|n)";

my $prompt = <STDIN>;
chomp $prompt;
die unless ( $prompt eq "y" );

## special do-hickeys I want at the end
my @list = ( '[id://3989]', '[|]', '[|]', '&lt;', '&gt;', '&#91;', '&#
+93;' );
@list = map { "$_\n" } @list;
say "list is @list";
my $return1 = write_monk_tags();
say "return1 is $return1";
my $munge = strftime( "%d-%m-%Y-%H-%M-%S", localtime );
$munge .= ".monk.txt";

# use Path::Tiny to create and write to a text in relevant directory
my $save_file = path( $path2, $output, $munge )->touchpath;
my $return2   = $save_file->spew($return1);
say "return2 is $return2";
my $return3 = $save_file->append(@list);
say "return3 is $return3";
say "created file $save_file";

system( 1, 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe', $save_fil
+e );

sub write_monk_tags {
  use warnings;
  use 5.011;

  my $tag_pair = '<x></x>';
  my $return   = '';

  # User: change these quoted values for different order or tags
  my @buchstaben = qw/i p c pre readmore b/;
  for my $letter (@buchstaben) {

    print "How many $letter tag pairs would you like?: ";
    my $prompt = <STDIN>;
    chomp $prompt;
    while ( $prompt gt 0 ) {
      my $new_string = $tag_pair;
      $new_string =~ s/x/${letter}/g;
      say "new string is $new_string";
      $return = $return . $new_string . "\n";
      --$prompt;
    }
  }

  return $return;
}
__END__
[download]

Of course, I'll consider any criticism of this. Thx pryrt for your comments to get me moving on this new machine.