I tested my original script with the 
return if -d;
unlink $_

[download]
against the golfed 
unlink $_ if -f;

[download]
and the golfed -f test seems to be a bit slower. Maybe because unlink somehow gets called for each directory then stopped? Whereas the 'return if -d ' returns immediately. BUT the improved shell with null 
find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 rm

[download]
seems to win :-( 
time -d-test Gtk3 
  real    0m0.412s
  user    0m0.074s
  sys     0m0.337s

time -f-test Gtk3 
  real    0m0.478s
  user    0m0.076s
  sys     0m0.388s

time find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 rm
real    0m0.334s
user    0m0.012s
sys     0m0.321s

[download]
I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth. flash japh

In reply to Re^3: Myth busted: Shell isn't always faster than Perl by zentara
in thread Myth busted: Shell isn't always faster than Perl by zentara

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