Better array search

July 21, 2009

During the journey of finding a better linear array search function in javascript, I decided to write my own. I decided to take a different approach. Here’s the outcome.

Array.prototype.small_search = function(search) {
    if (this[0] === search){ return 0; }
    var s = '\x00';
    var a = this.join(s);
    var b = a.search(search)-1;
    return a.substring(0, b).split(s).length;
};

With an array of less than 150 elements, it is much faster than Dustin Diaz’s in_array function. While they aren’t the same, his can be adapted to return the index also.

The only downside with my function is that it becomes much slower after the array length is larger than 150 elements. So, if you have a small array, go ahead and use this, otherwise use Dustin’s.

Times

Array Length	small_search	in_array
5	0.020ms	0.098ms
10	0.024ms	0.084ms
50	0.042ms	0.095ms
100	0.069ms	0.106ms
150	0.087ms	0.111ms
300	0.203ms	0.137ms
500	0.418ms	0.132ms
1000	0.813ms	0.138ms
5000	3.530ms	0.312ms
10000	6.718ms	0.441ms

Test it out on your own and come back with results.