http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=487971


in reply to Slow Regex - How to Optimize

I'd try a non-greedy quantifier... 
if ( $line =~ /[^a-zA-Z]$sub[^a-zA-Z]*?\(/ ) {

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...and maybe a more generic subroutine finder... 
foreach my $line ( @sub_code ) 
{
    if ($line =~ /[^a-zA-Z]([a-zA-Z_]+[a-zA-Z_0-9]*)[^a-zA-Z]*\(/
        and exists $SUBS{$1}) 
    { push @subs, $key }
}

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