Here is the exact sub that I now have in the script

#***********************
sub runit2 {
my ($file1a, $file2a) = @_;
my $file1_vala = $file1a->get;
my $file2_vala = $file2a->get;
open (FILE1a, "$file1_vala") or die;
open (FILE2a, "$file2_vala") or die;
$text->insert('end', "Device config contains: \n");
chomp(my @strings = <FILE2a>);
while (1) {
foreach $pattern (<FILE1a>) {
chomp($pattern);
last if $pattern =~ /^\s*$/;
my @matches = eval {
#grep /$pattern/, @strings;
grep $pattern eq $_, @strings
};
if ($@) {
print "Error: $@";
} else {
my $count = @matches;
$text->insert('end', "$count $pattern \n");
}
}
return;
}
close FILE1a;
close FILE2a;
}

If I take out the infinite while loop, the output is

"Device config contains:
1 no service tcp-small-servers"

Thats it, no further iteration.

If I leave it in, a snip of the output which is really not desirable ...

.
.
.
.
.
2 snmp-server enable traps snmp authentication linkdown linkup coldstart warmstart
1 snmp-server enable traps frame-relay
1 snmp-server enable traps frame-relay subif
1 snmp-server enable traps config
1 ip tacacs source-interface loopback0
1 snmp-server trap-source loopback0
1 ip flow-export source fa0/0
1 ip flow-export version 5 origin-as
1 ip flow-export destination 10.15.1.2 9996
1 ip flow-cache timeout active 1
1 ip flow-cache timeout inactive 15
2 snmp-server ifindex persist
1 logging trap notifications
1 logging source-interface fa0/0
2 snmp-server enable traps snmp authentication linkdown linkup coldstart warmstart
1 privilege exec level 1 traceroute
1 privilege exec level 1 ping
1 privilege exec level 1 show configuration
1 line con 0
2 exec-timeout 5 0
3 login
1 line aux 0
2 exec-timeout 5 0
3 login
1 line vty 0 4
1 exec-timeout 30 0
1 no privilege level 15
1 no access-class 23 in
3 login
1 end



If I modify the code above to

#***********************
sub runit2 {
my ($file1a, $file2a) = @_;
my $file1_vala = $file1a->get;
my $file2_vala = $file2a->get;
open (FILE1a, "$file1_vala") or die;
open (FILE2a, "$file2_vala") or die;
$text->insert('end', "Device config contains: \n");
#*******************************
foreach $pattern (<FILE1a>) {
chomp($pattern);
last if $pattern =~ /^\s*$/;
my $matches = grep $pattern eq $_, @strings;
++$count{$pattern} if $matches;
}

for my $key (keys %count) {
print "$count{$key} $key\n";
}
#*******************************
close FILE1a;
close FILE2a;
}

I would expect the hash to be printed in the "dos" window.

If the following is included, I get very many errors.

use strict
%count = ();

If omitted, nothing is printed to the dos window, but it does run.