I am trying to write a script that will run through a directory, check if something is a file and print the filename, and if it is a directory, descend into the directory and print all files filenames, then go back up a directory and finish printing the files in the starting directory. A recursive script. This is my code: 
#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

my $dir = `pwd`;

sub start {
  foreach (<$dir*>) {
    print "$_\n" if (-f $_);
    if (-d $_) {
      $dir = $_;
      &start;
    }
  }
}

&start;

[download]
When I run this, I'm getting the message "Deep recursion on subroutine "main::start" at ./archive.pl at line 14". I know I'm doing something wrong, but I can't figure out what it is. I guess I am missing a "base case" to make the loop stop, but I don't know how to add a base case in this situation.

Also, this is just a personal project. I don't want to use other perl modules to make it easier. I want to look at each file individually.

In reply to "Deep recursion" error by cspctec

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