i can open a file handle but I dont know how to print the entire table to a file

Let's assume you opened filehandle REPORT. The following code from Grandfather

    for my $word (sort keys %freqs) {
        $freqs{$word}{$_} ||= 0 for keys %{$freqs{all}};
        printf "$word\t";
        print join "\t", join "\t", map $freqs{$word}{$_}, sort keys %
+{$freqs{$word}};
        print "\n";
    }
[download]

could be changed to:

    for my $word (sort keys %freqs) {
        $freqs{$word}{$_} ||= 0 for keys %{$freqs{all}};
        printf REPORT "$word\t";
        print REPORT join "\t", join "\t", map $freqs{$word}{$_}, sort
+ keys %{$freqs{$word}};
        print REPORT "\n";
    }
[download]

The next thing, can I modify this to count the shared words between stories, too?

Will you change the program to read from several different input files? How do you want to give those filenames to your program?

That was easy!! I will read from one nig file, just like Grandfather data sample One big file that will look like

[Story 1]
blblblblbalblablablabal
blblblblbalblablablabal

[Story 2]
blblblblbalblablablabal
blblblblbalblablablabal

[Story 3]
blblblblbalblablablabal
blblblblbalblablablabal

[Story 4]
blblblblbalblablablabal
blblblblbalblablablabal

etc...
[download]

$filename = "tryit.txt";
open(IN, $filename) || die;
open(OUT, ">test1.csv") || die;
open(OUT1, ">test2.csv") || die;

my %freqs;
my $story; # Current story name 
  
while (<IN>) {
    if (/^\<(.*)\>\s*$/) {
        $story = ucfirst $1; 
        die "Duplicate story title: $story" if exists $freqs{$story};
        next;
    }
    
    next unless defined $story; # wait until we have a story title
s/[\.,:;\?"!\(\)\[\]\{\}(--)_]//g;
        
for my $word (/\w+/g) { 
  
        # Current story counts
        $word = ucfirst $word;
        $freqs{$word}{$story}++;
        $freqs{all}{$story}++;
        
        # Total counts
        $freqs{$word}{total}++;
        $freqs{all}{total}++;
    }
} 

# Print title line
print OUT "\t", (join "\t", sort keys %{$freqs{all}}), "\n";

# Print table
for my $word (sort keys %freqs) {
   $freqs{$word}{$_} ||= 0 for keys %{$freqs{all}};
   printf OUT "$word\t";
   print OUT join "\t", join "\t", map $freqs{$word}{$_}, sort keys %{
+$freqs{$word}};
  print OUT "\n";
}
  
@info=sort keys %{$freqs{all}};
my @countop;
for($i=0;$i<scalar(@info)-1;$i=$i+1)
{
$story1=$info[$i];
for($j=0;$j<scalar(@info)-1;$j=$j+1)
{
$story2=$info[$j]; 
  
for my $word (sort keys %freqs) {
   $freqs{$word}{$_} ||= 0 for keys %{$freqs{all}};
   if($freqs{$word}{$story1} > 0){
   if($freqs{$word}{$story2} > 0){
   $countop[$i][$j]++;}}
}
}
} 
my $m;
my $n;
for($m=0;$m<scalar(@info)-1;$m=$m+1)
{
for($n=0;$n<scalar(@info)-1;$n=$n+1)
{
printf OUT1 "$info[$m],$info[$n],$countop[$m][$n] \n";
}
} 
  
close IN;
close OUT;
close OUT1;
[download]

A few things to keep in mind while you learn Perl:

• Always use strictures (use strict; use warnings).
• Use the three parameter version of open.
• Use consistent indentation.
• Don't use C style for loops unless you really really must.

Consider the following "cleaned up" version of your added code:

my @info = sort keys %{$freqs{all}};
my %countop;

for my $story1 (@info) {
    next if $story1 eq 'total';
    
    for my $story2 (@info) {
        next if $story2 eq 'total';
        
        for my $word (sort keys %freqs) {
            next unless $freqs{$word}{$story1};
            next unless $freqs{$word}{$story2};

            $countop{$story1}{$story2}++;
        }
    }
}

for my $m (sort keys %countop) {
    for my $n (sort keys %{$countop{$m}}) {
        printf OUT1 "$m, $n, $countop{$m}{$n}\n";
    }
}
[download]

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