Benchmark: Regex removing whitespace vs trim vs targetted regex

Script Preparation code:

var string = ' -24.98602033783035 33.72611157596111 0.0 0.0'

Tests:

regex
string.replace(/^\s+|\s+$|\s+(?=\s)/g, '')
trim
string.trim()
minimal regex
string.replace(/^\s/g, '')

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
regex
trim
minimal regex

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: 3 years ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:87.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/87.0

Browser/OS: Firefox 87 on Ubuntu

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
regex	6291426.5 Ops/sec
trim	27464738.0 Ops/sec
minimal regex	11800417.0 Ops/sec

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

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

**Benchmark Explanation**

The provided benchmark measures the performance of three different approaches for removing whitespace from a string: using regular expressions (`regex`), the `trim()` method, and a minimal regular expression (`minimal regex`). The goal is to compare these approaches' execution times on various devices.

**Options Compared**

1. **Regular Expression (Regex)**: Uses a pattern to match and remove whitespace at the beginning (`^`), end (`$`), or in between (`\s+(?=\\s)`). This approach allows for more flexibility but may be slower due to the complexity of the pattern.
2. **trim() Method**: Removes whitespace from both the beginning and end of a string using a single method call. This approach is likely faster than regex because it's a built-in method with optimized performance.
3. **Minimal Regex**: Uses a simplified regular expression that only removes whitespace at the beginning (`^`) and end (`$`), without removing whitespace in between. This approach balances speed and flexibility.

**Pros and Cons**

1. **Regex**:
	* Pros: Highly flexible, can remove whitespace in various formats.
	* Cons: May be slower due to pattern complexity, can be overkill for simple use cases.
2. **trim() Method**:
	* Pros: Fast, optimized performance, widely supported.
	* Cons: Limited flexibility, only removes whitespace from beginning and end.
3. **Minimal Regex**:
	* Pros: Balances speed and flexibility, suitable for most use cases.
	* Cons: May not cover all edge cases, still relies on regex.

**Library/Features Used**

None mentioned in the provided benchmark data.

**Special JS Features/Syntax**

None explicitly used or mentioned in this benchmark.

**Other Alternatives**

1. **String.prototype.replace()**: Similar to `regex`, but without the `^` and `$` anchors.
2. **String.prototype.split()` + `String.prototype.join()`: Can be used to remove whitespace by splitting the string into an array of substrings and then joining them back together.

In summary, this benchmark provides a good comparison of three approaches for removing whitespace from a string, allowing users to choose the most suitable method based on their specific needs.

Related benchmarks:

Regex removing whitespace vs trim vs targetted regex (version: 0)

testing removing beginning and end whitespace vs trim

Comparing performance of: regex vs trim vs minimal regex

Created: 4 years ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

regex

trim

minimal regex

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Experimental features:

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

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