@Dave: Here is my complete sub code with sample data. I would like to match $namecnt with field1 from the flat file so it wont match every variation of David Dave Tom Thomas etc: 

sub namecount {

my %count;

open(INPUT, "$config::namedata");        # PULLS NAMES FROM FLAT FILE
open(OUTPUT, ">$config::namecountdata"); # PUTS NAME COUNT IN NEW FILE

my $namecnt='David|Tom|Sam|Will|Dave|William|Thomas';

while(<INPUT>){

my @words = split(":");

foreach my $word (@words){
if($word=~/($namecnt)/io){
$count{$1}++;
}
}
}

foreach my $word (sort keys %count) {
printf("%39s  %-14s  %-19s  %6s", colored("There are",'cyan bold'), 
colored("$count{$word}",'yellow bold'), 
colored("$word",'cyan bold'), 
colored("Name(s)\n",'cyan bold')
);
print OUTPUT "There are $count{$word} $word Name(s)\n";
}

close INPUT;
close OUTPUT;

} # END SUB

[download]
_DATA_
1:NAME:Bob:Phone
2:NAME:Dave:Phone
3:NAME:Will:Phone
4:NAME:Todd:Phone

In reply to Re^2: Word Count and Match by PilotinControl
in thread Word Count and Match by PilotinControl

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