use Benchmark 'cmpthese';
use strict;
use Regexp::Keep;

my @strings = ('one two three four', 'two three four five', 'one three five');
my @copy;

sub replace { s/(o+ )three/$1/       for @copy=@strings }
sub keep    { s/o+ \Kthree//         for @copy=@strings }
sub two     { /o+ (?=three)/g and s/\Gthree// for @copy=@strings }

cmpthese(-3, {
  'replace' => \&replace,
  'keep'    => \&keep,
  'two'     => \&two
});

replace;
print "Replace: ", join("\n", @copy), "\n";
keep;
print "Keep: ", join("\n", @copy), "\n";
two;
print "Two: ", join("\n", @copy), "\n";

##</code><code>##

          Rate replace    keep     two
replace 4739/s      --    -15%    -26%
keep    5587/s     18%      --    -13%
two     6386/s     35%     14%      --
Replace: one two  four
two  four five
one three five
Keep: one two four
two four five
one three five
Two: one two  four
two  four five
one three five

##</code><code>##

sub replace { s/(o+ )three/$1/g       for @copy=@strings }
sub keep    { s/o+ \Kthree//g         for @copy=@strings }
sub two     { do {s/\Gthree// while /o+ /g} for @copy=@strings }

##</code><code>##

sub two     { /o+ (?=(three))/g and substr($_, $-[1], $+[1]-$-[1], '') for @copy=@strings