$ perl -e '$_ = "USERID1|2215|Jones|";
> my( $x, $y, $z ) = split /\|/;
> print "( $x, $y, $z )\n";'
( USERID1, 2215, Jones )

$ perl -e '$_ = "USERID1|2215|Jones|";
> ( $x, $y, $z ) = split /\|/, 3;
> print "( $x, $y, $z )\n";
> '
( 3, ,  )

$ perl -e '$_ = "USERID1|2215|Jones|";
> ( $x, $y, $z ) = split /\|/, $_, 3;
> print "( $x, $y, $z )\n";
> '
( USERID1, 2215, Jones| )

##</code><code>##

my @strings = qw(
  USERID1|2215|Jones
  USERID1|1000|Jones
  USERID3|1495|Dole
  USERID2|2500|Francis
  USERID2|1500|Francis
);

##</code><code>##

$ perl bench_inside_outside.pl
             Rate  outside outside2   inside  inside2
outside  110902/s       --      -2%     -39%     -40%
outside2 113390/s       2%       --     -38%     -39%
inside   181595/s      64%      60%       --      -2%
inside2  186121/s      68%      64%       2%       --