#!/usr/bin/perl
 
use strict;
use warnings 'all';
   
use Benchmark;
    
use vars qw /$a $b $c $abc/;

$abc = "abc";
($a, $b, $c) = split // => $abc;

timethese -10 => {
    unpack     =>  '$_ = unpack "H*" => $::abc',
    sprintf    =>  '$_ = sprintf "%x%x%x", ord $::a, ord $::b, ord $::c',
}
       

__END__
Benchmark: running sprintf, unpack for at least 10 CPU seconds...
   sprintf: 11 wallclock secs (10.51 usr +  0.01 sys = 10.52 CPU) @ 208379.75/s (n=2192155)
    unpack: 10 wallclock secs (10.10 usr +  0.00 sys = 10.10 CPU) @ 323836.04/s (n=3270744)