my @sorted = (sort {$count{$a} cmp $count{$b}} keys %count); #### my @sorted = sort {$count{$a} <=> $count{$b}} keys %count; #### $ perl -le' my @strings = qw( QS DD DFD SD QS QS QS DD DFS ); my ( %count, @max ); for ( @strings ) { $count{ $_ }++; $max[ 0 ] < $count{ $_ } and @max = ( $count{ $_ }, $_ ); } print $max[ 1 ]; ' QS