The first thing to try is instead of doing this:

@files = (@files,$_);

do this:

push @files, $_;

Here are some results I got from profiling some comparable code:

Total Elapsed Time = -1.8e-00 Seconds
  User+System Time = 100.0439 Seconds
Exclusive Times
%Time ExclSec CumulS #Calls sec/call Csec/c  Name
 99.9   100.0 100.00      1   100.00 100.00  main::f2
 0.03   0.030  0.030      1   0.0300 0.0300  main::f1
[download]

sub f2 used the original method. sub f1 used push(). As you can see, it made quite a difference.

Drew

Be careful what you wish for... (Mr. Limpet)
For where you treasure is there shall your heart be also (Christ)