Very interesting thing...
I'm getting similar results like you (v5.8.8 built for i486-linux-gnu-thread-multi) when I run your benchmark.
But when I change now s/\s+//; to s/\s+/ /; then 'ref' is always ca. 30% slower than 'alias'! It looks that this might be dependent on the performed operation.

In reply to Re: Pass by ref vs alias : why does scalar size matter? by mscharrer
in thread Pass by ref vs alias : why does scalar size matter? by clinton

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