# snip ... 
# I know this is evil, it's a hack. 
my $count = `/bin/grep $basefile
             /var/log/squid/access.log | /usr/bin/wc -l`;
$count =~ s/^\s+//g;

# so lets not hack it..
open(IN, "/var/log/squid/access.log") or die "opening access.log: $!\n";
my $count = grep(/$basefile/, <IN>);
close(IN);