Rate basic GRT ST keysort basic 1.66/s -- -88% -89% -91% GRT 13.3/s 701% -- -12% -25% ST 15.1/s 810% 14% -- -15% keysort 17.7/s 972% 34% 18% -- Rate basic GRT ST keysort basic 1.79/s -- -87% -89% -91% GRT 13.5/s 654% -- -15% -30% ST 15.8/s 786% 18% -- -18% keysort 19.3/s 980% 43% 22% -- Rate basic GRT ST keysort basic 1.70/s -- -87% -89% -91% GRT 13.3/s 681% -- -15% -27% ST 15.6/s 817% 17% -- -14% keysort 18.3/s 972% 37% 17% -- #### #!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; use Benchmark qw( cmpthese ); use File::Slurper qw( read_text ); use Sort::Key qw( rikeysort ); my @unsorted = split /^(?=>>> )/m, read_text( "try3.txt" ); @unsorted = ( @unsorted ) x 10_000; # 90_000 lines (30_000 records) sub basic { my @sorted = sort { my ( $an ) = $a =~ /(\d+)%/; my ( $bn ) = $b =~ /(\d+)%/; $bn <=> $an } @unsorted; } sub ST { my @sorted = map $_->[0], sort { $b->[1] <=> $a->[1] } map [ $_, /(\d+)%/ ], @unsorted; } sub GRT { my @sorted = map substr( $_, 4 ), sort map { /(\d+)%/ ? ( ~ pack( "N", $1 ) . $_ ) : () } @unsorted; } sub keysort { my @sorted = rikeysort { ( /(\d+)%/ )[0] } @unsorted; } cmpthese( -3, { basic => \&basic, ST => \&ST, GRT => \&GRT, keysort => \&keysort, } );