open(FH,'file.200207') or die 'hlpfl err msg'; while() { # get name $name = (split /\s+/, $_)[0]; # init count $info->{$name} = 0; } for('file.200204','file.200205','file.200206') { open(FH, $_) or die 'nther hlpfl err msg'; while() { # get name $name = (split /\s+/, $_)[0]; # update count if(defined $info->{$name}) { $info->{$name}++ } } }