If I structure a solution as a c, java, or BASIC programmer might: 
my %word_list = ( bat=> 0, cat=> 0, eat=> 0, fat=> 0 );
my @words = qw( bat bat dat fat eat eat eat fat );
my $word;

foreach $word (@words){
   if(exists $word_list{$word}){
      $word_list{$word}= $word_list{$word} + 1; 
   }
   else{
      $word_list{$word} = 1;
   }
}

foreach $word (sort keys %word_list) {
   print "$word: $word_list{$word}\n";
}

[download]
If I want a perlish solution I would write: 
%word_list = ( bat=> 0, cat=> 0, eat=> 0, fat=> 0 );
my @words = qw( bat bat dat fat eat eat eat fat );
my $word;
foreach $word (@words){
   $word_list{$word}++;
}

foreach $word (sort keys %word_list) {
   print "$word: $word_list{$word}\n";
}

[download]
If don't need a the original word_list for displaying words that were not matched (word count is 0) but want only the counts of the words that occur in @words then an empty %word_list. 
my %word_List = ( );

[download]
Using a hash and increment to count things is a fundamental technique to master early in your perl walk.

RBL

In reply to Re: hard referencing in hashes?!? by LEFant
in thread hard referencing in hashes?!? by imlou

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