sub ordinate ($) {
    my $num = shift;
    $num =~ s/(\d*(11|12|13|4|5|6|7|8|9|0))$/$1th/
    or $num =~ s/(\d*(1))$/$1st/
    or $num =~ s/(\d*(2))$/$1nd/
    or $num =~ s/(\d*(3))$/$1rd/;
    
    return $num;
}

##</code><code>##

          Rate Ordinate Method 3 Method 4 Method 2 Method 1
Ordinate 125/s       --     -48%     -50%     -54%     -64%
Method 3 242/s      93%       --      -4%     -11%     -30%
Method 4 252/s     102%       5%       --      -7%     -27%
Method 2 272/s     117%      13%       8%       --     -21%
Method 1 344/s     175%      42%      36%      27%       --

##</code><code>##

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use Benchmark qw(:all :hireswallclock);

cmpthese( 2000, {
    'Method 1' => 'for (0..300) { my $ord = method_1($_) }',
    'Method 2' => 'for (0..300) { my $ord = method_2($_) }',
    'Method 3' => 'for (0..300) { my $ord = method_3($_) }',
    'Method 4' => 'for (0..300) { my $ord = method_4($_) }',
    'Ordinate' => 'for (0..300) { my $ord = ordinate($_) }',
});

sub ordinate {
    my $num = shift;
    $num =~ s/(\d*(11|12|13|4|5|6|7|8|9|0))$/$1th/
    or $num =~ s/(\d*(1))$/$1st/
    or $num =~ s/(\d*(2))$/$1nd/
    or $num =~ s/(\d*(3))$/$1rd/;
    
    return $num;
}

sub method_1 {
    my $suffix;
    my $nouser = shift;
    if    ($nouser =~ /(?<!1)1$/) { $suffix = 'st'; }
    elsif ($nouser =~ /(?<!1)2$/) { $suffix = 'nd'; }
    elsif ($nouser =~ /(?<!1)3$/) { $suffix = 'rd'; }
    else                          { $suffix = 'th'; }
    return $nouser.$suffix;
}

sub method_2 {
    my $suffix;
    my $nouser = shift;
    local *_ = \$nouser;
    if    (/(?<!1)1$/) { $suffix = 'st'; }
    elsif (/(?<!1)2$/) { $suffix = 'nd'; }
    elsif (/(?<!1)3$/) { $suffix = 'rd'; }
    else               { $suffix = 'th'; }
    return $nouser.$suffix;
}

sub method_3 {
    my $suffix;
    my $nouser = shift;
    foreach ($nouser) {
       if    (/(?<!1)1$/) { $suffix = 'st'; }
       elsif (/(?<!1)2$/) { $suffix = 'nd'; }
       elsif (/(?<!1)3$/) { $suffix = 'rd'; }
       else               { $suffix = 'th'; }
    }
    return $nouser.$suffix;
}

sub method_4 {
    my $suffix;
    my $nouser = shift;
    foreach ($nouser) {
       /(?<!1)1$/ && do { $suffix = 'st';  last };
       /(?<!1)2$/ && do { $suffix = 'nd';  last };
       /(?<!1)3$/ && do { $suffix = 'rd';  last };
    
       $suffix = 'th';
    }
    return $nouser.$suffix;
}