I have a need to get a count of identical items in a list. The first way I did this was to use something like: 
  foreach (@a) { $hash{$a}++; } 
  @key = keys %hash;            
  foreach (@key) { print "$_ found $hash{$_} times\n";}
Question: How can I populate the hash without a loop?
  @hash{@a} = (1) x @a;
doesnt really work to create a count of duplicate hash items.

In reply to How can I populate a hash? by Anonymous Monk

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