use Data::Dumper;
$Data::Dumper::Sortkeys=1;
my @my_array=('a','-2','3','b','0xffff','c','2','b','a','4','a','a','200');
my %counts;
$counts{$_}++ for @my_array;
print Dumper(\%counts);

##</code><code>##

$VAR1 = {
          '-2' => 1,
          '0xffff' => 1,
          '2' => 1,
          '200' => 1,
          '3' => 1,
          '4' => 1,
          'a' => 4,
          'b' => 2,
          'c' => 1
        };