use Benchmark qw(:hireswallclock timethese); timethese( 1000000,{ one => sub { require Benchmark }, two => sub { require Benchmark; require Benchmark }, }); __END__ $ perl 1 Benchmark: timing 1000000 iterations of one, two... one: 2.43888 wallclock secs ( 1.70 usr + 0.00 sys = 1.70 CPU) @ 588235.29/s (n=1000000) two: 5.11982 wallclock secs ( 2.77 usr + 0.00 sys = 2.77 CPU) @ 361010.83/s (n=1000000) #### use Encode qw(_utf8_on); $a = [['']]; foreach (@$a) { _utf8_on($_) foreach @$_ } # my way print utf8::is_utf8( $a->[0][0] ),$/; $a = [['']]; _utf8_on( $_ ) for map @$_, @{$a}; # Aristotle's way print utf8::is_utf8( $a->[0][0] ),$/; __END__ 1 #### use Encode qw(_utf8_on); use Benchmark qw(:hireswallclock timethese); push @$a,[(0) x 10] foreach 1..10; timethese( 10000,{ liz => sub { foreach (@{$a}) { _utf8_on( $_ ) foreach @{$_}; } }, Aristotle => sub { _utf8_on( $_ ) for map @$_, @{$a}; }, }); __END__ Benchmark: timing 10000 iterations of Aristotle, liz... Aristotle: 4.37344 wallclock secs ( 3.73 usr + 0.00 sys = 3.73 CPU) @ 2680.97/s (n=10000) liz: 4.06957 wallclock secs ( 2.73 usr + 0.00 sys = 2.73 CPU) @ 3663.00/s (n=10000)