#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; $|++; my $count; deep( $ARGV[ 0 ] ); print $count; sub deep {SUB:{ ++$count and --$_[ 0 ] and redo SUB; }} #sub deep { # ++$count and --$_[ 0 ] and goto \&deep; #} __DATA__ [20:54:56.63] P:\test>422344 10000000 10000000 [20:54:59.48] P:\test>422344 [20:55:17.40] P:\test>422344 100000000 100000000 [20:55:41.24] P:\test>