I want to compare the number of times a string occurs in a set of files. I read each file into a single line using:

my $all = do {local $/; <IN>};
[download]

Then i got the number of instances using McDarren's code from Counting in regular expressions and did this:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

my $bit="ace"; my (%hash);
while (<DATA>) {
        if ($_ =~ /$bit/) {
                my @ray=($_ =~ /$bit/g); my $c=scalar @ray;
                $hash{$_}=$c;
        }   
}

my @rank=sort{$hash{$b}<=>$hash{$a}}keys%hash;
print @rank;

__DATA__
In the wire game, a "mob" composed of dozens of 
grifters simulates a "wire store", i.e., a place 
where results from horse races are received by 
telegram and posted on a large board, while also 
being read aloud by an announcer. The griftee is 
given secret foreknowledge of the race results 
minutes before the race is broadcast, and is 
therefore able to place a sure bet at the wire store. 
In reality, of course, the con artists who set up 
the wire store are the providers of the inside 
information, and the mark eventually is led to place 
a large bet, thinking it to be a sure win. At this 
point, some mistake is made, which actually makes the bet a loss.
[download]

Is there a less troublesome way to do this? Even better, is there a way to correspond a hash key to an array value without "whiling" thru -- so i could invoke the number of occurances (from %hash) to the sorted array value (which would equal the name of a hash key)?

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