sub get_date_perl
{
    my $date = substr( $_[0], index( $_[0], '|' ) + 1, 8 );
    # skipping the scalars and doing return join '', unpack...
    # did not result in a performance improvement.
    my ( $month, $day, $year ) = unpack( "A2A2A4",$date );
    return $year.$month.$day;
}