my @data_tranfer_rt_25_count=grep ($newhash{ (m/(\w+)/)[0] }, @newlist); ... $random_25_count = $#data_transfer_rt_25_count + 1; #### >perl -wMstrict -le "my @ra = qw(a b c d e f); my $n = grep /[bcd]/, @ra; print qq{b or c or d: $n}; " b or c or d: 3