Is String.trim() faster than String.replace()?

Question

Let's say there has a string like " world ". This String only has the blank at front and end. Is the trim() faster than replace()?

I used the replace once and my mentor said don't use it since the trim() probably faster.

If not, what's the advantage of trim() than replace()?

Answer 1

If we look at the source code for the methods:

replace():

 public String replace(CharSequence target, CharSequence replacement) {
    String tgtStr = target.toString();
    String replStr = replacement.toString();
    int j = indexOf(tgtStr);
    if (j < 0) {
        return this;
    }
    int tgtLen = tgtStr.length();
    int tgtLen1 = Math.max(tgtLen, 1);
    int thisLen = length();
    int newLenHint = thisLen - tgtLen + replStr.length();
    if (newLenHint < 0) {
        throw new OutOfMemoryError();
    }
    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(newLenHint);
    int i = 0;
    do {
        sb.append(this, i, j).append(replStr);
        i = j + tgtLen;
    } while (j < thisLen && (j = indexOf(tgtStr, j + tgtLen1)) > 0);
    return sb.append(this, i, thisLen).toString()
}

Vs trim():

public String trim() {
    int len = value.length;
    int st = 0;
    char[] val = value;    /* avoid getfield opcode */
    while ((st < len) && (val[st] <= ' ')) {
        st++;
    }
    while ((st < len) && (val[len - 1] <= ' ')) {
        len--;
    }
    return ((st > 0) || (len < value.length)) ? substring(st, len) : this;
}

As you can see replace() calls multiple other methods and iterates throughout the entire String, while trim() simply iterates over the beginning and ending of the String until the character isn't a white space. So in the single respect of trying to only remove white space before and after a word, trim() is more efficient.

---

We can run some benchmarks on this:

public static void main(String[] args) {
       long testStartTime = System.nanoTime();;
       trimTest();
       long trimTestTime = System.nanoTime() - testStartTime;
       testStartTime = System.nanoTime();     
       replaceTest();
       long replaceTime = System.nanoTime() - testStartTime;           
       System.out.println("Time for trim(): " + trimTestTime);
       System.out.println("Time for replace(): " + replaceTime);            
}

public static void trimTest() {
    for(int i = 0; i < 1000000; i ++) {     
        new String("  string   ").trim();
    }
}
public static void replaceTest() {
    for(int i = 0; i < 1000000; i ++) {     
        new String("  string   ").replace(" ", "");
    }
}

Output:

Time for trim(): 53303903
Time for replace(): 485536597
//432,232,694 difference