tr ' ' '\n' < /tmp/hh | grep -c hello #### perl -lne '$ct += s/hello//g; END {print $ct}' /tmp/hh #### perl -0040 -ne 'END {print "$x\n"} $x++ if /hello/' /tmp/hh #### perl -Fhello -0777 -lane 'print $#F' /tmp/hh # shorter: perl -apFhello -0777e '$_=$#F' < /tmp/hh # with check for word boundry (e.g. to exclude "Othello" or mispelled "cello") perl -apF'\bhello\b' -0777e '$_=$#F' < /tmp/hh