#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use Benchmark;
use vars qw($myvar @results $a $b $c $d);
$myvar = "one,two,three,four";

timethese(1000000, { 
    Regex => '($a=$1, $b=$2, $c=$3, $d=$4) if $myvar   =~ /^([^,]+),([^,]+),([^,]+),([^,]+)$/',
    Split => '@results = split /,/, $myvar'
});

##</code><code>##

Benchmark: timing 1000000 iterations of Regex, Split...
     Regex: 27 wallclock secs (28.06 usr +  0.00 sys = 28.06 CPU)
     Split: 16 wallclock secs (16.19 usr +  0.00 sys = 16.19 CPU)