Recent enhancements to pack/unpack format and the fact that the format has to be interpreted every time where a regex, at some level is, 'compiled' the first time it is used, mean that pack/unpack are often slower these days.

If you use split you are using the regex engine anyway and if you need to use multiple calls to substr, the regex engine will nearly always win.

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
Lingua non convalesco, consenesco et abolesco.
Rule 1 has a caveat! -- Who broke the cabal?

In reply to Re^3: Fast file searching by BrowserUk
in thread Fast file searching by tcf03

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