#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use Benchmark qw(cmpthese);   

my $count = 8000;
my @array = (3.14) x 1000;

sub want {
    return wantarray ? @array : scalar @array;
}

sub nowant {
    return @array;
}

cmpthese($count*50, {
    "scalar_want"   => sub { my $test = want()   },
    "scalar_nowant" => sub { my $test = nowant() },
} );
cmpthese($count, {
    "array_want"    => sub { my @test = want()   },
    "array_nowant"  => sub { my @test = nowant() },
} );

##</code><code>##

                  Rate   scalar_want scalar_nowant
scalar_want   740741/s            --          -15%
scalar_nowant 869565/s           17%            --
               Rate   array_want array_nowant
array_want   2778/s           --          -1%
array_nowant 2797/s           1%           --