The variant below has two features yours doesn't:

• It allows one to use any compare function, not just cmp.
• It returns the index at which the element should be found when it is not found.

# Add $value to sorted @array, if it's not already there.
my $idx = binsearch { $a <=> $b } $value, @array;
splice(@array, ~$idx, 0, $value) if $idx < 0;
[download]

sub binsearch(&$\@) {
   my  $compare = $_[0];
   #my $value   = $_[1];
   my  $array   = $_[2];

   my $i = 0;
   my $j = $#$array;
   return $j if $j == -1;

   my $ap = do { no strict 'refs'; \*{caller().'::a'} };  local *$ap;
   my $bp = do { no strict 'refs'; \*{caller().'::b'} };  local *$bp;

   *$ap = \($_[1]);
   for (;;) {
      my $k = int(($i+$j)/2);
      *$bp = \($array->[$k]);

      my $cmp = $compare->()
         or return $k;

      if ($cmp < 0) {
         $j = $k-1;
         return _unsigned_to_signed(~$k) if $i > $j;
      } else {
         $i = $k+1;
         return _unsigned_to_signed(~$i) if $i > $j;
      }
   }
}

sub _unsigned_to_signed { unpack('j', pack('J', $_[0])) }
[download]

---

I wonder if the following interface is better:

# Add $value to sorted @array, if it's not already there.
my $idx = binsearch { $value <=> $::_ } @array;
splice(@array, ~$idx, 0, $value) if $idx < 0;
[download]

sub binsearch(&\@) {
   my ($compare, $array) = @_;

   my $i = 0;
   my $j = $#$array;
   return $j if $j == -1;

   for (;;) {
      my $k = int(($i+$j)/2);

      my $cmp;
      $cmp = $compare->() for $array->[$k];
      return $k if !$cmp;

      if ($cmp < 0) {
         $j = $k-1;
         return _unsigned_to_signed(~$k) if $i > $j;
      } else {
         $i = $k+1;
         return _unsigned_to_signed(~$i) if $i > $j;
      }
   }
}

sub _unsigned_to_signed { unpack('j', pack('J', $_[0])) }
[download]

---

---

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