Benchmark: Regex vs .indexOf vs .startsWith vs .substr (Such)

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 provided benchmark and explain what is being tested, the options compared, their pros and cons, and other considerations.

**Benchmark Overview**

The test case measures the performance of three different string comparison methods:

1. **Regex**: Using a regular expression to search for a pattern in a string.
2. **.indexOf**: Finding the index of a substring within a string using the `indexOf` method.
3. **.startsWith**: Checking if a string starts with a specified prefix using the `startsWith` method.

**Script Preparation Code**

The script preparation code sets up some global variables:

* `window.regex`: A regular expression object defined as `/^test/`.
* `window.match`: The string "test" that will be searched for in the strings.
* `window.data`: An array of 100,000 random strings generated using a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, digits, and special characters.
* `TOTAL_STRINGS`: A constant set to 100,000.

**Html Preparation Code**

The HTML preparation code simply contains an empty `<div>` element, which is likely used as a container for the benchmark results.

**Options Compared**

The three options being compared are:

1. **Regex**: Using a regular expression to search for the `match` string within each string in the `data` array.
2. **.indexOf**: Finding the index of the `match` string within each string in the `data` array using the `indexOf` method.
3. **.startsWith**: Checking if each string in the `data` array starts with the `match` string using the `startsWith` method.

**Pros and Cons**

Here's a brief summary of the pros and cons of each option:

1. **Regex**:
	* Pros: Can be more flexible than other methods, can perform complex pattern matching.
	* Cons: Can be slower due to the overhead of compiling regular expressions, may require more resources for larger strings.
2. **.indexOf**:
	* Pros: Fast and efficient, doesn't require compiling regular expressions or performing complex pattern matching.
	* Cons: May not work correctly for certain patterns (e.g., edge cases), can be slower than Regex for small strings.
3. **.startsWith**:
	* Pros: Simple and fast, always returns a boolean result.
	* Cons: May not work correctly for certain use cases (e.g., checking if a string contains a specific substring), can be slower than .indexOf for large strings.

**Other Considerations**

* The benchmark only tests these three options on a single string comparison scenario. In real-world scenarios, you may need to test these methods on different types of strings and patterns.
* The `TOTAL_STRINGS` constant is set to 100,000, which may be too small for some systems. You can adjust this value to better simulate real-world usage.

**Alternative Methods**

Some alternative string comparison methods that are not included in the benchmark include:

1. **.includes**: Similar to .indexOf, but returns a boolean result indicating whether the specified string is included in the original string.
2. **.endsWith**: Checks if a string ends with a specified suffix using the `endsWith` method.
3. **String.prototype.includes()**: A modern method for checking if a substring exists within a string.

Note that these alternative methods may have slightly different performance characteristics or use cases compared to the options being tested in the benchmark.

Related benchmarks:

Regex vs .indexOf vs .startsWith vs .substr (Such) (version: 0)

Testing some things

Comparing performance of: Regex vs .indexOf vs .startsWith

Created: 6 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):