splitpath

Splits a path in to volume, directory, and filename portions. On systems with no concept of volume, returns '' for volume.

...

splitdir

The opposite of catdir().

@dirs = File::Spec->splitdir( $directories );

As well, please read How do I post a question effectively?. When you post code, input and output, wrap it in <code> tags so that formatting and whitespace is maintained.

Consider the following script:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use File::Spec::Functions qw(splitpath splitdir);

my @files = qw(
    .\folder1\folder11\elementA.xml
    .\folder1\folder11\elementB.xml
    .\folder2\folder22\element1.xml
    .\folder2\folder22\folder222\element11.xml
);

for my $file (@files) {
    my ($volume, $directory, $filename) = splitpath($file);
    print <<EOT;
Input:     $file
Volume:    $volume
Directory: $directory
Filename:  $filename
splitdir gives:
EOT
    for my $dir ( splitdir $directory) {
        print "$dir\n";
    }
    print "\n";
}
[download]

outputs:

Input:     .\folder1\folder11\elementA.xml
Volume:    
Directory: .\folder1\folder11\
Filename:  elementA.xml
splitdir gives:
.
folder1
folder11


Input:     .\folder1\folder11\elementB.xml
Volume:    
Directory: .\folder1\folder11\
Filename:  elementB.xml
splitdir gives:
.
folder1
folder11


Input:     .\folder2\folder22\element1.xml
Volume:    
Directory: .\folder2\folder22\
Filename:  element1.xml
splitdir gives:
.
folder2
folder22


Input:     .\folder2\folder22\folder222\element11.xml
Volume:    
Directory: .\folder2\folder22\folder222\
Filename:  element11.xml
splitdir gives:
.
folder2
folder22
folder222
[download]

Thank you Sir for the very useful insight. I am going to try it out and let you know.