As requested by /msg here is a comparison of the three methods so far using Benchmark. Particle's method is only 50% slower than a regex so it kicks a$$ too at more than three times faster than the range method. TIMTOWDI. For those who would like to learn a really easy cut'n'paste way to use Benchmark (like here) check out Benchmark made easy 

C:\>perl test.pl
Benchmark: timing 100000 iterations of Mine, Particle, Yours...
      Mine:  5 wallclock secs ( 4.06 usr +  0.00 sys =  4.06 CPU) @ 24
+630.54/s (
n=100000)
  Particle:  8 wallclock secs ( 7.20 usr +  0.00 sys =  7.20 CPU) @ 13
+888.89/s (
n=100000)
     Yours: 25 wallclock secs (24.67 usr +  0.00 sys = 24.67 CPU) @ 40
+53.51/s (n
=100000)

C:\>

[download]
use Benchmark;

my $mine = <<'ME';
my $stuff = <<EOF;
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
START
My wonderful super duper
yummy booty bag
information
END
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
EOF

my ($good_stuff) = $stuff =~ m/(START.*END)/s;
# print $good_stuff;
ME

my $yours = <<'YOU';
my $stuff = <<EOF;
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
START
My wonderful super duper
yummy booty bag
information
END
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
EOF
my @lines = split("\n", $stuff); 
my $good_stuff; 
foreach(@lines){ 
   if(m/START/ .. m/END/) { 
      $good_stuff .= "$_\n";
   }
}
# print $good_stuff;
YOU

my $particle = <<'PARTICLE';
my $stuff = <<EOF;
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
START
My wonderful super duper
yummy booty bag
information
END
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
boring boring boring
EOF
sub find_between_tags($$$) {
  my $string_to_parse = shift;
  my $start_tag = shift;
  my $start_pos = index $stuff, $start_tag; 
  return unless $start_pos > -1;            
  my $stop_tag = shift;
  my $stop_pos = index $stuff, $stop_tag;   
  $stop_pos > -1 ?                          
    return substr $stuff, $start_pos,       
      $stop_pos - $start_pos + length $stop_tag : 
    return substr $stuff, $start_pos, -1;   
}

my $good_stuff = find_between_tags($stuff, "START", "END");
# print $good_stuff;
PARTICLE

# prove they all work, uncomment the prints
# (we don't want to print when benchmarking)
# uncomment these evals
# eval $mine;
# eval $yours;

# Benchmark those suckers
timethese(100000,{
        'Mine'      => $mine, 
        'Yours'     => $yours,
        'Particle'  => $particle
        });

[download]

cheers

tachyon

s&&rsenoyhcatreve&&&s&n.+t&"$'$`$\"$\&"&ee&&y&srve&&d&&print

In reply to Re: Re: Range This by tachyon
in thread Efficiently Extracting a Range of Lines (was: Range This) by skazat

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