#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; use Benchmark; timethese(100, { 'no ref' => sub { my @array = sub1() }, 'ref' => sub { my $arref = sub2() }, }); sub sub1 { my @arry = (0..100000); return @arry; } sub sub2 { my @arry = (0..100000); return \@arry; }