Benchmark: innerhtml vs removechild vs firstchild.remove

HTML Preparation code:

<div id="container"></div>

Script Preparation code:

var node = document.getElementById('container');

for(var i = 0; i < 1000; i++) node.appendChild(document.createElement('div'));

Tests:

innerHTML
var node = document.getElementById('container'); node.innerHTML = '';
removeChild
var node = document.getElementById('container'); while(node.firstChild) node.removeChild(node.firstChild)
node.firstChild.remove
var node = document.getElementById('container'); while(node.firstChild) node.firstChild.remove()

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
innerHTML
removeChild
node.firstChild.remove

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: one year ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/128.0.0.0 Safari/537.36

Browser/OS: Chrome 128 on Linux

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
innerHTML	11274576.0 Ops/sec
removeChild	21342806.0 Ops/sec
node.firstChild.remove	21703240.0 Ops/sec

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated one year ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

I'll break down the provided JSON and explain what's being tested, compared options, pros and cons, library usage, special JS features, and other considerations.

**Benchmark Definition**

The benchmark is testing three different approaches to clear an HTML element:

1. `innerHTML`: setting the `innerHTML` property of the element directly.
2. `removeChild`: removing child nodes from the element using a while loop.
3. `node.firstChild.remove`: removing the first child node of the element and then calling its `remove` method.

**Script Preparation Code**

The script preparation code is identical for all three test cases, creating an HTML element with the ID "container" and appending 1000 child elements to it using a `for` loop. This ensures that all tests are run on the same DOM structure.

**Html Preparation Code**

The HTML preparation code is also identical for all three test cases, creating a simple HTML element with the ID "container".

**Individual Test Cases**

Each test case has its own benchmark definition:

1. **innerHTML**: sets `innerHTML` to an empty string.
2. **removeChild**: uses a while loop to remove child nodes from the element until there are no more child nodes left.
3. **node.firstChild.remove**: removes the first child node of the element and then calls its `remove` method.

**Pros and Cons**

Here's a brief summary of each approach:

1. **innerHTML**:
	* Pros: fast and efficient, as it directly sets the content of the element.
	* Cons: can be problematic if the element has other attributes or styles that need to be reset, and may not work in all browsers.
2. **removeChild**:
	* Pros: ensures removal of all child nodes, which can be important for maintaining DOM integrity.
	* Cons: slower than `innerHTML` due to the loop, and may require more CPU cycles.
3. **node.firstChild.remove**:
	* Pros: only removes the first child node, which might be sufficient in some cases, and is generally faster than `removeChild`.
	* Cons: assumes that there's only one child node, and removing it can lead to unexpected behavior if there are multiple nodes.

**Library Usage**

None of the test cases use any external libraries or frameworks.

**Special JS Features**

There are no special JS features mentioned in the benchmark. The tests only rely on standard JavaScript syntax and DOM APIs.

**Other Considerations**

When running this benchmark, it's essential to consider:

* Browser support: different browsers may have varying levels of support for these approaches.
* Document structure: the performance of each approach can depend on the structure of the document, including the number and type of child nodes.
* Resource constraints: the availability of resources (e.g., CPU, memory) can impact performance.

**Alternatives**

If you're looking for alternatives to this benchmark or want to explore other approaches to clearing an HTML element, consider:

* Using a library like jQuery that provides methods for manipulating the DOM, such as `empty()`, `html()`, and `children()`.
* Implementing your own custom loop-based approach to remove child nodes.
* Exploring other methods, such as using `Element.prototype.removeChild()` or `Node.prototype.remove()`.

Keep in mind that these alternatives may have different performance characteristics and might not be suitable for all use cases.

Related benchmarks:

innerhtml vs removechild vs firstchild.remove (version: 0)

Comparing performance of: innerHTML vs removeChild vs node.firstChild.remove

Created: 3 years ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

innerHTML

removeChild

node.firstChild.remove

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated one year ago):