Here is a very simple script that allocates 100Mb buffer and then undef's it: 
#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

my $buf = "A" x (1024 * 1024 * 100);
print "Allocated " . length($buf) . " byte buffer\n";

print "Deleting buffer\n";
undef $buf;

print "Finished\n";
sleep(1000);

[download]
But when I run this on my Linux (Fedora 8) system with perl-5.8.8 I see that perl is still using > 100Mb of ram while sitting on the final sleep... Why hasn't it been released? Thanks! Anthony

In reply to perl memory usage by awesley

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