#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;
use Benchmark;

# Yeah, I'm using globals; this is to get around troubles
# I was having since Benchmark uses eval ...

use vars qw/@array %last/;

# some values to put in there : mix cases to avoid "asciibetical" sort

@array=qw(xavier colin melissa wally Edward joan Arlen George mohandas ralph other); 
$last{other}=1;

sub using_hash {
	defined($last{lc($a)}) cmp defined($last{lc($b)}) or lc($a) cmp lc($b);
}

sub using_return {
        return 1 if lc($a) eq 'other';
        return -1 if lc($b) eq 'other';
        lc($a) cmp lc($b);
}

sub using_eq {
       ( (lc($a) eq 'other') cmp (lc($b) eq 'other') ) || lc($a) cmp lc($b);
}

# for gosh sakes, use a sensible value here
# I needed a large number on a 4 CPU system

timethese (100000,
	{'use_hash'=> q{

		my @sorted = sort using_hash @array;
},
	 use_return=> q{ 
		 my @sorted = sort using_return @array
			},
	 use_eq=> q{ my @sorted = sort using_eq @array }
	}
);

##</code><code>##

use_eq: 24 wallclock secs (24.27 usr +  0.00 sys = 24.27 CPU)
use_hash: 27 wallclock secs (27.68 usr +  0.00 sys = 27.68 CPU)
use_return: 23 wallclock secs (22.97 usr +  0.00 sys = 22.97 CPU)
$ ./sort_test.pl
Benchmark: timing 100000 iterations of use_eq, use_hash, use_return ..
use_eq: 24 wallclock secs (23.59 usr +  0.00 sys = 23.59 CPU)
use_hash: 28 wallclock secs (27.75 usr +  0.00 sys = 27.75 CPU)
use_return: 24 wallclock secs (22.86 usr +  0.00 sys = 22.86 CPU)