#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use Benchmark;
my $testlarge = "a " x 100000;
my $testsmall = "a b c d e f";
timethese(-10,{
        One   => sub { my ($y) = (split(/\s+/,$testlarge))[0]; },
        Two   => sub { my ($y) = (split(/\s+/,$testsmall))[0]; },
        Three => sub { $testsmall =~ /([^\s]*)\s+/; my $y = $1; },
        Four  => sub { $testlarge =~ /([^\s]*)\s+/; my $y = $1; },
        Five  => sub { my  $y  =  split(/\s+/,$testlarge)      },
        Six   => sub { my ($y) =  split(/\s+/,$testlarge,1)    }
              });