Benchmark: Regex vs .indexOf vs .startsWith sz

HTML Preparation code:

<div></div>

Script Preparation code:

window.regex = /^test/;
window.match = 'test';
var data = window.data = [];
const possible = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789";
var TOTAL_STRINGS = window.TOTAL_STRINGS = 100000;

function getRandomInt(max) {
  return Math.floor(Math.random() * max);
}

function makeRandomString(len) {
  var text = "";
  for( var i=0; i < len; i++ ) {
    text += possible.charAt(getRandomInt(possible.length));
  }
  return text;
}

while (data.length < TOTAL_STRINGS) {
  data.push(makeRandomString(getRandomInt(20)));
}

Tests:

Regex
var x = 0; var TOTAL_STRINGS = window.TOTAL_STRINGS; var data = window.data; var regex = window.regex; while (x < TOTAL_STRINGS) { const str = data[x]; regex.test(str); x += 1; }
.indexOf
var x = 0; var TOTAL_STRINGS = window.TOTAL_STRINGS; var data = window.data; var match = window.match; while (x < TOTAL_STRINGS) { const str = data[x]; str.indexOf(match) === 0; x += 1; }
.startsWith
var x = 0; var TOTAL_STRINGS = window.TOTAL_STRINGS; var data = window.data; var match = window.match; while (x < TOTAL_STRINGS) { const str = data[x]; str.startsWith(match); x += 1; }

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
Regex
.indexOf
.startsWith

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

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

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

Let's break down the benchmark and analyze what's being tested, compared options, pros and cons, and other considerations.

**Benchmark Overview**

The benchmark measures the performance of three string manipulation functions: `Regex`, `.indexOf`, and `.startsWith`. The test creates an array of random strings, each with a length between 1 and 20 characters, and then uses these strings to iterate over the data. Each iteration performs one of the three tests:

* `Regex`: Tests if the entire string matches a regular expression.
* `.indexOf`: Tests if a specific substring (`match`) is found at the beginning of the string.
* `.startsWith`: Tests if a specific prefix (`match`) is present at the start of the string.

**Comparison Options**

The benchmark compares the performance of these three functions across different browsers and devices:

1. `Regex`
2. `.indexOf` (string indexing)
3. `.startsWith` (string starting with)

**Pros and Cons**

* **Regex**: Pros:
	+ Can match complex patterns.
	+ Allows for regular expression groups, conditions, and quantifiers.
	+ Can be used for more than just string matching.
Cons:
	+ Can be computationally expensive due to the complexity of regex patterns.
	+ May have performance issues with very long strings or large datasets.
* `.indexOf`:
	+ Fast and efficient for simple substring searches.
	+ Only needs to scan a portion of the string (from the start).
	Pros:
	+ Generally faster than `Regex`.
Cons:
	+ Requires exact matching, so it may not work well with complex patterns.
	+ May have issues if the target substring is not found in the data.
* `.startsWith`:
	+ Similar to `.indexOf`, but starts from the beginning of the string instead of searching for a specific position.
	Pros:
	+ Fast and efficient when the target prefix is present at the start.
Cons:
	+ May be slower than `.indexOf` if the target prefix is not found or appears later in the data.

**Other Considerations**

* **Performance Impact**: The performance difference between these functions will depend on factors like string length, complexity, and dataset size. In general, `Regex` may perform worse for very long strings or complex patterns.
* **Browser Variability**: Results may vary across different browsers due to differences in engine optimization, caching, and other implementation-specific factors.

**Library Used**

No libraries are explicitly mentioned in the benchmark code. However, it's worth noting that JavaScript engines like V8 (used by Chrome) and SpiderMonkey (used by Firefox) have built-in optimizations for string manipulation operations, which may impact performance.

**Special JS Features or Syntax**

None of the provided test cases use any special JavaScript features or syntax beyond regular expressions (`Regex`).

Related benchmarks:

Regex vs .indexOf vs .startsWith sz (version: 0)

Testing some things

Comparing performance of: Regex vs .indexOf vs .startsWith

Created: 7 years ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

Regex

.indexOf

.startsWith

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

No previous run results

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