gistfile1.PL

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use Benchmark qw(:all);

my %strings = (
    three => [[qw(foo bar baz fut)],                         'bar'],
    five  => [[qw(foodi barsi bazie foots)],                 'foodi'],
    seven => [[qw(fooding barsing bazieys footsys)],         'bazieys'],
    nine  => [[qw(foodinges barsinges bazieyses footsysin)], 'footsysin'],
);

foreach my $len (keys %strings) {
    print "\nString of $len characters\n";
    my $words = $strings{$len}->[0];
    my $match = $strings{$len}->[1];
    cmpthese(
        100000,
        {
            'using eq' => sub {
                my $count;
                foreach my $word (@$words) {
                    if ($word eq $match) {
                        $count++;
                    }
                }
            },
            'using a regex' => sub {
                my $count;
                foreach my $word (@$words) {
                    if($word =~ /^$match$/ ) {
                        $count++;
                    }
                }
            },
            'using a quotemeta regex' => sub {
                my $count;
                foreach my $word (@$words) {
                    if($word =~ /^\Q$match\E$/ ) {
                        $count++;
                    }
                }
            },
        }
    );
}