#!/usr/bin/perl -wT
use strict;
%ENV = (PATH => '/bin:/usr/bin');  # give us a happy enviornment

my $filename = '/etc/services';    # filename to be checked

my $length = do {
  my $string = `wc -l $filename`;  # get output of wc 
  die "wc error $?" if $?;         # die if wc chokes for some reason
  no warnings 'numeric';           # turn off a pesky warning ;-)
  $string + 0;                     # numerify it with +0
};

print "length = $length\n";        # "length = 331" on my machine

##</code><code>##

 ($string =~ /\d+/g)[0];

##</code><code>##

my $length = (`wc -l $filename` =~ /\d+/g)[0];  # get output of wc
die "wc error $?" if $?;        # die if wc chokes for some reason