Re: array_shift() and reindexing

On Thu, 2012-07-12 at 13:43 +0200, Jille Timmermans wrote: > Hello, > > array_shift() currently reindexes the array after shifting one element. > The reindexing has quite some impact on it's performance. I would like > to suggest an extra parameter to array_shift() which can be used to > prevent reindexing. > > From a few quick (and sloppy!) tests I get these results: > `reset($array); list($key, $value) = each($array); > unset($array[$key]);` is ~50-150 times faster than array_shift(). > Calling array_reverse() and using array_pop() is ~2000-5000 times faster. > > If you agree this would be an useful addition I will create a patch. I haven't checked this, but is the difference only due to the re-hashing or also due to the fact that that array_shift() is taking the array by reference and therefore making a copy during the call if other cow-references (refcount>1, isref=0) exist? johanne