use strict; use warnings; my %oHash; my %count; my $best = 0; my $bestCode; while () { chomp; my ($code) = /\s+(.*)/; next if ++$count{$code} <= $best; $best = $count{$code}; $bestCode = $code; } print "Found $best occurances of $bestCode\n"; __DATA__ Affy:HG_U133A:213119_at:74:303; ENSG00000123643 Affy:HG_U133A:213119_at:542:439; ENSG00000123643 Affy:HG_U133A:213119_at:658:369; ENSG00000123643 Affy:HG_U133A:213119_at:199:255; ENSG00000123643 Affy:HG_U133A:213119_at:436:453; ENSG00000123643 Affy:HG_U133A:213119_at:324:381; ENSG00000458158 Affy:HG_U133A:213119_at:584:557; ENSG00000123643 Affy:HG_U133A:213119_at:234:507; ENSG00000123643 Affy:HG_U133A:213119_at:482:429; ENSG00000123643 Affy:HG_U133A:213119_at:608:451; ENSG00000458158 Affy:HG_U133A:213119_at:356:297; ENSG00000123643