Benchmark: RegEx.test vs. String.includes vs. String.match in case insensitive scenarios

Script Preparation code:

var string = "Hello world!";
var regex = /Hello/i;

Tests:

RegEx.test
regex.test(string);
String.includes
string.toLowerCase().includes("Hello".toLowerCase());
String.match
string.match(regex);

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
RegEx.test
String.includes
String.match

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: 2 years ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/105.0.0.0 Safari/537.36

Browser/OS: Chrome 105 on Linux

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
RegEx.test	6931754.0 Ops/sec
String.includes	16149516.0 Ops/sec
String.match	5889944.5 Ops/sec

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

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

Let's dive into the explanation of the provided benchmark.

**Benchmark Overview**

The benchmark compares the performance of three different approaches to test if a string contains or matches a certain pattern: `RegEx.test()`, `String.includes()`, and `String.match()` in case-insensitive scenarios. The goal is to determine which approach is the fastest for this specific use case.

**Options Compared**

1. **RegEx.test()**: This method uses a regular expression engine to test if the entire string matches the given pattern.
2. **String.includes()**: This method checks if the string contains the specified substring, ignoring case by converting both strings to lowercase using `toLowerCase()`.
3. **String.match()**: This method returns an array with one element containing the matched string or null if no match is found.

**Pros and Cons of Each Approach**

1. **RegEx.test()**:
	* Pros: Efficient for exact matching, supports regular expression flags (e.g., `i` for case-insensitive).
	* Cons: Can be slower than other methods due to the overhead of the regular expression engine.
2. **String.includes()**:
	* Pros: Simple, fast, and efficient for substring matching.
	* Cons: May be slower for exact matching or when dealing with large patterns.
3. **String.match()**:
	* Pros: Can handle complex patterns and matches, supports capturing groups.
	* Cons: Generally slower than `RegEx.test()` and `String.includes()`, especially for simple cases.

**Library Used**

There is no explicit library mentioned in the benchmark definition or test cases. However, assuming a modern JavaScript engine (e.g., V8), it's likely that these methods are implemented natively by the browser or runtime environment.

**Special JS Feature or Syntax**

None of the tested methods rely on special JavaScript features or syntax beyond regular expressions and string manipulation.

**Alternative Approaches**

If none of these approaches suit your needs, consider the following alternatives:

1. **Use a dedicated string matching library**: Libraries like `js-matching` or `string-match` provide more efficient and flexible string matching capabilities.
2. **Implement a custom regular expression engine**: If you need to optimize performance for specific use cases, consider implementing a custom regular expression engine from scratch or using an existing one like `esrex`.
3. **Use a different programming language or framework**: Depending on your project's requirements, you might find better performance and features in another language (e.g., Rust) or framework (e.g., Go).

Keep in mind that these alternatives may come with additional complexity and overhead.

In conclusion, the benchmark provides a simple yet informative comparison of three common string matching methods in JavaScript. While each approach has its strengths and weaknesses, understanding the trade-offs will help you choose the best solution for your specific use case.

Related benchmarks:

RegEx.test vs. String.includes vs. String.match in case insensitive scenarios (version: 0)

Comparing performance of: RegEx.test vs String.includes vs String.match

Created: 2 years ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

RegEx.test

String.includes

String.match

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Experimental features:

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

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