However, when i tried this code:

use Benchmark;

@base=qw/one two three four five six seven/;
timethese(1_000_000,{
'$'=>sub {($s1,$s2,$s3,$s4,$s5,$s6,$s7)=@base;},
'@'=>sub{@s=@base;}
});
[download]

I got these results.

Benchmark: timing 1000000 iterations of $, @...
         $:  3 wallclock secs ( 2.86 usr +  0.00 sys =  2.86 CPU) 
@ 34 +9650.35/s (n=1000000)
         @: 11 wallclock secs (10.16 usr +  0.00 sys = 10.16 CPU) 
@ 98 +425.20/s (n=1000000)
[download]

odd? Yeah.. However, when i tried this code:

use Benchmark;
my $sub=eval 'sub {('.join(',',map{'$s'.$_}1..1000).')=@base}';

@base=(1..1_000);
timethese(1_000_000,{
'$'=>$sub,
'@'=>sub{@s=@base;}
});
[download]

i got these results:

Benchmark: timing 1000000 iterations of $, @...
         $: 131 wallclock secs (130.77 usr +  0.00 sys = 130.77 CPU) 
@ 7647.01/s (n=1000000)
         @: 149 wallclock secs (149.56 usr +  0.00 sys = 149.56 CPU) 
@ 6686.28/s (n=1000000)
[download]

Anyone have a brilliant explanation? (sorry for the pageful of $sXs, but i wanted to make the script just copy and paste).

Also note that i am running these test on this box: Win98se, amd1600mhz, 512ddr ram. So if anyone else wants to try the above code with different configs and see if its a win98 thing or something.