my $str = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog";
my $count =  () = $str =~ m/(the)/ig;
print $count;

##</code><code>##

my $str = "There are three theatres in the town";
my $count =  () = $str =~ m/(\bthe\b)/ig;
print $count;

##</code><code>##

my $str = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog";
my $count =  () = $str =~ m/(\bthe\b)/ig;
print $count;