Benchmark: str.match vs str.split with regex vs string input

Script Preparation code:

var text = "this\nis\na\nstring\nseparated\nby\nnew\nlines\ntry\nto\nmake\nthe\nline\na\nlittle\nlonger\n";

Tests:

match regex (regex only)
text.match(/.*\n/g);
split regex
text.split(/\n/g);
split string
text.split('\n');

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
match regex (regex only)
split regex
split string

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated 26 days ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

**Overview**

MeasureThat.net is a website that allows users to create and run JavaScript microbenchmarks. The provided benchmark measures the performance of two string manipulation methods: `str.match` with regular expressions, `str.split` with regular expressions, and `str.split` without regular expressions.

**Test Cases**

There are three test cases:

1. **match regex (regex only)**: This test case measures the performance of the `text.match` method with a regular expression that matches any character (`.*\n`) on every line.
2. **split regex**: This test case measures the performance of the `text.split` method with a regular expression that splits the string at newline characters (`\\n`).
3. **split string**: This test case measures the performance of the `text.split` method without using regular expressions, splitting the string at newline characters.

**Comparison**

The three test cases compare the performance of:

* Using regular expressions in both `match` and `split` methods
* Using only regular expressions in the `split` method
* Using no regular expressions in the `split` method

**Pros and Cons**

Here are some pros and cons of each approach:

1. **Using regular expressions in match and split methods**:
	* Pros: Can handle complex string patterns, flexible.
	* Cons: May be slower due to the overhead of compiling regular expressions, may not be suitable for simple string matching tasks.
2. **Using only regular expressions in the split method**:
	* Pros: Allows for fine-grained control over splitting, can handle complex string patterns.
	* Cons: May be slower than using a native string splitting method, may require more memory to store the compiled regular expression.
3. **Using no regular expressions in the split method**:
	* Pros: Fast and efficient, suitable for simple string splitting tasks.
	* Cons: Limited flexibility, may not handle complex string patterns.

**Library and Special JS Features**

In this benchmark, no libraries are used. However, it's worth noting that some JavaScript engines and browsers may have optimizations or built-in support for regular expressions that could affect the results of this benchmark.

**Considerations**

When choosing between these approaches, consider the following:

* Complexity of string patterns: If you need to handle complex patterns, using regular expressions might be necessary.
* Performance requirements: If speed is critical, using a native string splitting method or avoiding regular expressions may be more suitable.
* Memory constraints: Using regular expressions can increase memory usage due to the compilation of regular expression patterns.

**Alternatives**

If you're looking for alternatives to this benchmark, consider:

* Using native string manipulation methods (e.g., `String.prototype.split()`) instead of regular expressions.
* Using a different JavaScript engine or browser that may have optimized regular expression support.
* Creating a custom benchmark that tests the performance of other JavaScript features or libraries.

Latest run results:

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

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/111.0.0.0 Safari/537.36

Browser/OS: Chrome 111 on Mac OS X 10.15.7

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
match regex (regex only)	1407856.0 Ops/sec
split regex	1764503.8 Ops/sec
split string	7330774.0 Ops/sec

Related benchmarks:

str.match vs str.split with regex vs string input (version: 6)

Comparing performance of: match regex (regex only) vs split regex vs split string

Created: one year ago by: Registered User

Jump to the latest result

match regex (regex only)

split regex

split string

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Experimental features:

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated 26 days ago):