If you're pulling your input from a file, then 
while(my $c = getc(FILE)) {
  $count{lc($c)}++ if $c=~/[a-zA-Z]/;
}

[download]
is going to be quite a bit faster than anything involving split() or a regexp.

getc() has some issues, but this seems like an ideal use for it.

In reply to Re: How To Do This Better? by NoTwoGroo
in thread How To Do This Better? by buzzcutbuddha

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