It's a problem with precedence:

friday:~ $ perl -MO=Deparse,-p -e '1 while $x = $y != $z'
-e syntax OK
'???' while ($x = ($y != $z));
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As you can see, you're doing $pos = (index() != -1), where you want to do ($pos = index()) != -1. This problem causes $pos to be 1 all the time!

I have a better idea. Use the tr/// operator. $count += tr/"// while <FILE>;

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Jeff[japhy]Pinyan: Perl, regex, and perl hacker, who'd like a job (NYC-area)
s++=END;++y(;-P)}y js++=;shajsj<++y(p-q)}?print:??;