Being too lazy (in that good, Perl way) to figure out an answer to the question and post some sample code, I'm going to recommend you avoid the problem entirely by using File::Find, which is designed to do recursive directory searches, and which is distributed with Perl =)

Do a search on recurse subdirectories or even just File::Find if you want some info on how to use the module.

HTH

Philosophy can be made out of anything. Or less -- Jerry A. Fodor