$count = /\s/ for ($txt);
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I had to stare at that three times before I got what you were doing. It was the $count variable, which isn't a count. It's merely true/false, if $txt contains a space or not.

Perhaps what you were reaching for is:

$count = () = /\s/g for $txt;
[download]

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker