use Benchmark; timethese(1000, { Slasho => \&withslasho, None => \&without, qr => \&withqr }); sub withslasho { my $str1 = 'ABCBXBCA'; my $str2 = 'APCBXBCAC'; my @array = ($str1, $str2) x 500; my @patterns = ('B.B', 'CB')x10; my $pat = join '|',@patterns; foreach my $string (@array) { if($string =~ /($pat)/o) { # do a pattern lookup to see which pattern matched. my $matched; foreach my $p (@patterns) { if ($1 =~ /$p/) { $matched = $p; last; } } } } } sub without { my $str1 = 'ABCBXBCA'; my $str2 = 'APCBXBCAC'; my @array = ($str1, $str2) x 500; my @patterns = ('B.B', 'CB')x10; my $pat = join '|',@patterns; foreach my $string (@array) { if($string =~ /($pat)/) { # do a pattern lookup to see which pattern matched. my $matched; foreach my $p (@patterns) { if ($1 =~ /$p/) { $matched = $p; last; } } } } } sub withqr { my $str1 = 'ABCBXBCA'; my $str2 = 'APCBXBCAC'; my @array = ($str1, $str2) x 500; my @patterns = ('B.B', 'CB')x10; my $pat = join '|',@patterns; $pat = qr/$pat/; foreach my $string (@array) { if($string =~ /($pat)/) { # do a pattern lookup to see which pattern matched. my $matched; foreach my $p (@patterns) { if ($1 =~ /$p/) { $matched = $p; last; } } } } } #### Benchmark: timing 1000 iterations of None, Slasho, qr... None: 70 wallclock secs (69.60 usr + 0.00 sys = 69.60 CPU) @ 14.37/s (n=1000) Slasho: 61 wallclock secs (61.24 usr + 0.00 sys = 61.24 CPU) @ 16.33/s (n=1000) qr: 66 wallclock secs (65.80 usr + 0.00 sys = 65.80 CPU) @ 15.20/s (n=1000)