#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

my $str='dog dog horse dog cow dog pig dog';

my $count =0; # won't work unless $count intitialized to 0
              # simple declaration of "my $count; or a "my" 
              # variable within in this type of complex perl 
              # statement doesn't work under strict and warnings.
              # Or at least I've not been able get this
              # kind of stuff to work before.
              
              # But given my caveats, this does work!
              # whether is is better or not is left to
              # the readers..
              
my $limit =3;
$count++ while $count < $limit && $str =~ m/dog/g;
print "$count dogs were counted\n";

my $str2 = "horse dog cow";
$count = 0; #needed for initialization
$count++ while $count < $limit && $str2 =~ m/dog/g;
print "$count dogs were counted\n";

__END__
3 dogs were counted
1 dogs were counted