Edit: Updated code in a reply to this reply. Use it instead of the one I posted in this node. It probably works better.

Before explaining my cool use for Perl, I would like to tell you that Perl has been absent from my life for a few months now and me, being unhappy with this fact, have tried to become more involved and active with the language. Consider this paragraph the "me telling you that Perl has been absent from my life".

Moving on. If you are like me in the fact that you enjoy playing a nice game of hangman over the Internet, then you might like the cool use for Perl I have (re)found. You might not like it too, if you dislike cheatingbeing assisted.

I have here a hangman helper, ready to find the word that you are looking for. Simply follow the simple instructions provided in the comments, and you will be on your simple way.

Take note of the Todo. The helper works fine without me implementing the feature, but it is still something that should be done to give maximum help.

#!/usr/bin/perl
# Todo:
# Narrow possibilties by eliminating words with repeat letters when I 
+have
# guessed one of the repeats letters but the letter I guessed is eithe
+r not a
# repeat in the target word or is in a different position.
# Example:
# "rustlers" is a possible word, I guess 'r' and am presented with
# "r _ _ _ r _ _ _", meaning the word has two r's, just in the wrong s
+pot,
# and therefore rustlers should be eliminated.

use warnings;
use strict;
use 5.010;

# Simple instructions:
# perl $0 "w _ r d" "previousfailedguesses"

say $ARGV[0];
my @word = split(/ /, $ARGV[0]);

my $guessed = $ARGV[1] ? join('|', split(//, $ARGV[1])) : "0";
say $guessed;

my %wordlist; # Hash of word-length arrays
open(WORD, '<', '/usr/share/dict/american-english') or die $!;
while (<WORD>) {
    chomp;
    next if /[^a-z]/; # Lazy way out~
    my @chars = split(//, $_);
    push @{$wordlist{$#chars}}, $_;
}
close WORD;

my @narrowed = @{$wordlist{$#word}}; # Narrowed possible answers by si
+ze

OUTER: for (my $i = 0; $i <= $#narrowed; $i++) {    
    my @chars = split(//, $narrowed[$i]);
    
    # Narrowed by previous guesses
    if ($narrowed[$i] =~ /$guessed/) {
        splice(@narrowed, $i, 1);
        $i--; # Decrement counter now that word has been removed
        next OUTER;
    }
    
    # Narrowed by matching characters
    for (my $pos = 0; $pos <= $#word; $pos++) {
        next if $word[$pos] eq '_';
        
        if ($word[$pos] ne $chars[$pos]) {
            splice(@narrowed, $i, 1);
            $i--;
            next OUTER;
        }
    }
}

# %alphabet holds the number of times a letter occurs within all words
# %seen holds the number times a letter occurs in one word
my %alphabet;
$alphabet{$_} = 0 foreach ('a'..'z');
foreach my $word (@narrowed) {
    my %seen;
    $seen{$_} = 0 foreach ('a'..'z');
    my @chars = split(//, $word);
    
    foreach my $char (@chars) {
        $alphabet{$char}++ if $seen{$char} == 0; # Limit 1 increment f
+or each letter once per word
        $seen{$char}++;
    }
    
    undef %seen;
}

say $_ foreach @narrowed; # Word list
say sort { $alphabet{$b} <=> $alphabet{$a} } keys %alphabet; # Most co
+mmon letter, including ones already guessed
[download]

I have provided an example to go with it (for free!) too.

$ perl hangman.pl "e _ _ e _ _ _ _" ""
e _ _ e _ _ _ _
0
eagerest
eateries
echelons
eclectic
edgeways
edgewise
effected
egresses
embedded
embezzle
emceeing
emperors
endeared
endeavor
endemics
enfeeble
engender
enmeshed
enmeshes
ensemble
ententes
entering
envelope
envelops
especial
essences
esteemed
ethereal
eugenics
eutectic
exceeded
excelled
excepted
excerpts
excesses
expected
expedite
expelled
expended
expenses
expertly
extended
exterior
external
ensdtcxrlpimagohbvwyufzjkq
[download]

$ perl hangman.pl "e _ _ e _ _ _ _" "n"
e _ _ e _ _ _ _
n
eagerest
eateries
eclectic
edgeways
edgewise
effected
egresses
embedded
embezzle
emperors
especial
esteemed
ethereal
eutectic
exceeded
excelled
excepted
excerpts
excesses
expected
expedite
expelled
expertly
exterior
etdxscrpilagmwybouhfzjknvq
[download]

$ perl hangman.pl "e _ _ e _ t _ _" "n"
e _ _ e _ t _ _
n
eclectic
effected
eutectic
excepted
expected
expertly
tecxdpilryufwajkhgnvmsqbzo
[download]

$ perl hangman.pl "e _ _ e _ t _ _" "nx"
e _ _ e _ t _ _
n|x
eclectic
effected
eutectic
teciduflwraxjykhgnvmspqbzo
[download]

$ perl hangman.pl "e _ _ e _ t i _" "nx"
e _ _ e _ t i _
n|x
eclectic
eutectic
tieculwraxdjykhgfnvmspqbzo
[download]

$ perl hangman.pl "e _ _ e _ t i _" "nxu"
e _ _ e _ t i _
n|x|u
eclectic
tielcwraxdjyukhgfnvmspqbzo
[download]