I'm guessing as well but do you mean something like

knoppix@Microknoppix:~$ perl -E '
> $str = q{finding related pages on the world wide web the web};
> $hash{ $_ } ++ for split m{\s+}, $str;
> printf qq{%-10s - %d\n}, $_, $hash{ $_ }
>    for sort keys %hash;'
finding    - 1
on         - 1
pages      - 1
related    - 1
the        - 2
web        - 2
wide       - 1
world      - 1
knoppix@Microknoppix:~$
[download]

I hope I've guessed correctly and that this is helpful.