In fact, if you want to limit the amount of resources your script eats, you'd want to use nice, but considering that you probably want to SPEED UP the script, you have a few options:

• migrate the entire search mechanism to the database
• unbuffer script output through server, so client gets something while waiting for next results (gives illusion of speed)
• use ReiserFS for that FS speed boost
• use smart cacheing, perhaps the easiest option to implement
• use the unbuffering I mentioned above in congruence with Bone::Easy to insult the user away from waiting for further results

Good luck!

AgentM Systems nor Nasca Enterprises nor Bone::Easy nor Macperl is responsible for the comments made by AgentM. Remember, you can build any logical system with NOR.