Certainly on unix-like systems, there is the time command, with simple syntax like

% time myScript.pl
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which will execute the program and when it is done, it will print the amount of system and real time it used. One possible problem to consider when doing timings concurrently is competion for resources, i.e., is one script getting more cpu cycles than the other.

Scott

Ugh! Try reading the whole question scain! Sorry 'bout that.