# Not this...
my @items = qw( banana orange banana apple );

my %counts = count_items( \@items );
print "$_ => $counts{$_}\n" for sort keys %counts;

sub count_items {
    my @items  = @{ $_[0] };
    my %counts;

    for my $item (@items) {
        next unless defined $item && length $item;
        $counts{$item}++;
    }

    return %counts;
}

# But this...
my $items = [qw( banana orange banana apple )];

my $counts = count_items( $items );
printf "%s => %s\n", $_, $counts->{$_} for sort keys $counts->%*;

sub count_items ( $items ) {
    my $counts;

    for my $item ( $items->@* ) {
        next unless defined $item && length $item;
        $counts->{$item}++;
    }

    return $counts;
}