#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;
use Benchmark;

my $string  = "a man, a plan, a canal, panama!";

sub using_regexp {
   $string =~ /^(.)/o;

   return $1;
}

sub using_split {
   return (split('', $string, 2))[0];
}

sub using_substring {
   return substr($string, 0, 1);
}

sub using_unpack {
   return unpack('A1', $string);
}

sub using_reverse_chop {
   my $str = reverse $string;
   return chop $str;
}

timethese(-5, {'Using Regexp'          => \&using_regexp,
               'Using Split'           => \&using_split,
               'Using Substring'       => \&using_substring,
               'Using Unpack'          => \&using_unpack,
               'Using Reverse & Chop'  => \&using_reverse_chop,
               });