Text Counter

Modern Perl Implementation

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use Fcntl qw(:flock);

# Configuration
my $count_file = '/path/to/counter.dat';

# Initialize count
my $count = 0;

# Read and increment counter
if (open(my $fh, '+<', $count_file)) {
    flock($fh, LOCK_EX);
    $count = <$fh> || 0;
    chomp($count);
    $count++;
    seek($fh, 0, 0);
    truncate($fh, 0);
    print $fh "$count\n";
    close($fh);
}
elsif (open(my $fh, '>', $count_file)) {
    $count = 1;
    print $fh "1\n";
    close($fh);
}

# Output
print "Content-type: text/plain\n\n";
print $count;

exit 0;

PHP Equivalent

<?php
/**
 * Text Counter - PHP Version
 * Simple text-based hit counter
 */

$count_file = __DIR__ . '/counter.txt';

// Read current count
$count = 0;
if (file_exists($count_file)) {
    $count = (int) file_get_contents($count_file);
}

// Increment
$count++;

// Save (with file locking)
$fp = fopen($count_file, 'w');
if (flock($fp, LOCK_EX)) {
    fwrite($fp, $count);
    flock($fp, LOCK_UN);
}
fclose($fp);

// Output plain text
header('Content-Type: text/plain');
echo $count;
?>

PHP Inline Usage

<?php
// Inline counter function
function getVisitorCount($file = 'counter.txt') {
    $count = file_exists($file) ? (int) file_get_contents($file) : 0;
    $count++;
    file_put_contents($file, $count, LOCK_EX);
    return $count;
}
?>

<!-- Usage in HTML -->
<p>You are visitor number <strong><?= number_format(getVisitorCount()) ?></strong></p>

JavaScript Counter Display

/**
 * Client-side counter display with number animation
 * Note: Actual counting must happen server-side
 */

class AnimatedCounter {
    constructor(element, targetValue, options = {}) {
        this.element = document.querySelector(element);
        this.target = targetValue;
        this.options = {
            duration: 2000,
            separator: ',',
            ...options
        };
        this.animate();
    }

    animate() {
        const start = 0;
        const startTime = performance.now();

        const updateCounter = (currentTime) => {
            const elapsed = currentTime - startTime;
            const progress = Math.min(elapsed / this.options.duration, 1);

            // Easing function
            const easeOut = 1 - Math.pow(1 - progress, 3);

            const currentValue = Math.floor(start + (this.target - start) * easeOut);
            this.element.textContent = currentValue.toLocaleString();

            if (progress < 1) {
                requestAnimationFrame(updateCounter);
            }
        };

        requestAnimationFrame(updateCounter);
    }
}

// Usage: Fetch count from server and animate
fetch('/api/counter')
    .then(response => response.text())
    .then(count => {
        new AnimatedCounter('#visitor-count', parseInt(count));
    });