chainsaw.pl

#!/usr/bin/perl

use Cwd;
use File::Path;

my $tree = $ARGV[0];

sub saw ($) {
  my($leaf) = @_;
  my $cwd = getcwd;
  chdir $leaf;
  printf "Traversing %s ...\n", getcwd;
  unlink(glob("*"));
  my @dirs = glob("*");
  foreach $dir (@dirs) {
    saw($dir);
  }
  chdir $cwd;
}

saw($tree);
rmtree($tree);

newsaw.pl

#!/usr/bin/perl  

use Cwd; 
use File::Path;  

my $tree = $ARGV[0];  

die "$tree does not exist or cannot be processed\n" unless ( -d $tree );   

sub saw ($) {
  my($leaf) = @_;   
  my $cwd = getcwd;   
  chdir $leaf;   
  printf "Traversing %s ...\n", getcwd;   
  unlink(glob("*"));   
  my @dirs = glob("*");   
  foreach $dir (@dirs) {
    saw($dir);
  }
  chdir $cwd;
}

saw($tree);
rmtree($tree);