Instead of splitting into an intermediate array, you can extract the word positions directly from a regex scan. It goes like this: 

my $string =
    q(So anyway, I basically need to check now across my
string whether any elements in my string are repeated, and 
if so, how many times. I've read alot about manipulating 
arrays, but they're all based on arrays that you create 
yourself, rather than arrays created by opening a textfile, 
so I'm not sure how to manipulate my array. Any help would 
be much appreciated.);

my %positions;

push @{$positions{lc($1)}}, pos() - length($1)
    while $string =~ /([A-Za-z']+)/g;

{
    local $_;
    print "$_\t@{$positions{$_}}\n"
        for keys %positions;
}

[download]
That hash gives you a reference to a sorted array of string positions for each word found. In scalar context, the referenced arrays give the word count.

Another thing that gives you is that you get to say directly what a word character is, instead of defining what splits them. I used that to include contractions (while messing up any single-quoted passages).

After Compline,
Zaxo

In reply to Re: Newbie Q:How do I compare items within a string? by Zaxo
in thread Newbie Q:How do I compare items within a string? by PerlGrrl

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