open my $fh, '<', 'theFile' or die $!;

my $count = 0;
while( <$fh> ) {
    ++$count while m[the]g;
}
print "'the' appeared $count times in 'theFile'";

##</code><code>##

if( $extract =~/^\( (\d.+) \)$/ ) {
    print "The number was $1";
}
else {
    print "The regex didn't match";
}