my %hash_one = ('string_one' => 0, 'string_two' => 0, 'string_three' => 0, 'string_four' => 0, 'string_five' => 0, 'string_six' => 0, 'string_seven' => 0) foreach $i(keys %hash_one){ $hash_one{$i} = `grep -c '$hash_one{$i}' file.txt`; }