my @a = qw(4444 22 1 22 333);

my $shortest;
my $min;

for ( @a )
{
    my $l = length($_);
    if (not defined $min or $l<$min )
    {
        $min=$l;
        $shortest=$_;
    }
}
print $shortest;
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Edit: looks like i was way to slow again.