#!/usr/bin/perl -w
#this file is for grepping within vdx files, and outputs the following:
#filename:<#of hits>:<arguments>
#filename:2:myargument
open ARGUMENTS, "<","file";
@files = <*.vdx>;
@arguments = <ARGUMENTS>;
foreach $file (@files) {
    #$copyfile="\"".$file."\"";
    foreach $argument (@arguments) {
       chomp $argument;
       #print "$copyfile\n";

# 0. move these _down_ to here
       ($ENV{f},$ENV{a})=($file,$argument);

# 1. consider egrep instead for a bit more readable posix regexes
# 2. two ways to make grep include file names: the newish -H or 
#    the classic /dev/null trick (the last second change was also a last
#    check misread your opening to imply missing _file_ argument :/)
       $results=`grep -H -c "\$a" "\$f"`; # /dev/null`;

# 3. do you really want to see non-match reports? 
       $rc=$?; next if $rc; # nothing to report

# 4. but gnu grep ... /dev/null now insists to sumarize non hits as well
#    $results=~s/\n.*//sgo;
       chomp $results;
       print "$results:$argument\n";
    }
}