# cd /var/tmp
# mkdir lots-of-files
# cd lots-of-files
# perl -e 'for (1..500000) { { open my $f, ">poop.$_" } }'
# cd /var/tmp
# ls -ld lots-of-files
drwxr-xr-x   2 szbrhv   staff    10240000 Oct  5 10:01 lots-of-files