The regular expression isn't an array you can foreach through. It returns something like a true false value while the iterator is true instead.

Not true, the OP used the 'g' flag which makes the regexp return a list of matched groupings when in list context (and foreach expects a list).

So to combine foreach with a regexp is just fine, in fact Cazbo you are close to the solution!

Hint: to debug execute a

print "$wordcount, $_\n";
[download]

within your foreach loop immediately after you do the autoincrement and see what it prints. Your regexp needs some finetuning and what about the counter itself?