Re: [bug-gawk] Is the speed of array index checking same as string comparison?

[arnold]

Peng Yu <address@hidden> wrote:

> In the following example, it shows that the performance of array index
> checking is same as string comparison. Is this conclusion always true?

No.  The example only had one element in it, so the lookup time is
close to that of a single string comparison.

Awk arrays are hash tables.  As they fill up, access will slow down.
That said, gawk goes to a lot of trouble to try to keep access fast,
with a small number of collisions per bucket on average.  I suspect you'd
have to REALLY load an array before you'd notice a big difference
(millions of elements on modern machines).

Arnold