Read the file one line at a time. When you hit your match exit: 

open( FILE, "file" ) || die ("The file not there ");

while (<>){
    if (m/$regex/) {
         print "matched!\n";
         close (FILE);
         exit;
    }
}

[download]

Neil Watson
watson-wilson.ca

In reply to Re: fastest pattern match by neilwatson
in thread fastest pattern match by Anonymous Monk

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