Doesn't the code instantiate a new %hash and $count every time read_line is called?

No. our makes it a global, so the function always uses the same variable, %main::hash.

Since $count comes from a constantly updated global, it grows bigger than $maxcount. If $count never outgrew $maxcount, $maxcount would never be higher than 1, yet it's 5160 for the OP's test run.

since you're resetting $count for every line, $count will never > $maxcount and $find is never set, as you see in the output.

Actually, you can see that $maxcount IS set in the output. $find is also set, but it's not so obvious because it happens to be set to the 0-length string.

It's a good idea to separate the data collection steps from the analysis steps. Move that if block into its own sub.

Actually, he already did that. readfile reads the lines, and the misnamed readline processes (analyses) them.

In reply to Re^2: using hash to find frequency count by ikegami
in thread using hash to find frequency count by jjohhn

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