note: this varian loop have same result $ time perl -e 'for($i=0;$i<=1000;$i++){for($j=0;$j<=1000;$j++){for($k=0;$k<=100;$k++){}}}' real 0m7.867s user 0m7.860s sys 0m0.000s $ time php -r 'for($i=0;$i<=1000;$i++){for($j=0;$j<=1000;$j++){for($k=0;$k<=100;$k++){}}}' real 0m1.717s user 0m1.712s sys 0m0.000s