Is it worth caching the length of an array in a Javascript loop?

JavaScript performance comparison

Revision 56 of this test case created and last updated

Info

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5349425/whats-the-best-to-loop-an-array-in-javascript

Preparation code

<script>
  var myArray = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20];
  var res = 0;
</script>

Test runner

Warning! For accurate results, please disable Firebug before running the tests. (Why?)

Java applet disabled.

Testing in unknown unknown
Test Ops/sec
With caching
for (var i = 0, len = myArray.length; i < len; i++) {
  res += myArray[i];
}
window.res = res;
pending…
Without caching
for (var i = 0; i < myArray.length; i++) {
  res += myArray[i];
}
window.res = res;
pending…
Counting down
for (var i = myArray.length; i--;) {
  res += myArray[i];
}
window.res = res;
pending…
caching length outside for loop
var len = myArray.length;

for (var i = 0; i < len; i++) {
  res += myArray[i];
}
window.res = res;
pending…
while loop
var len = myArray.length;
while (!--len) {
  res += myArray[len];
}
window.res = res;
pending…
for check index
for (var i = 0; myArray[i++];) {
  res += myArray[i];
}
window.res = res;
pending…
upcount while
var len = myArray.length;
var ilen = len;
while (!--len) {
  res += myArray[ilen - len];
}
window.res = res;
pending…
array shift
var len = myArray.length;
while (!--len) {
  res += myArray[0];
  myArray.shift();
}
window.res = res;
pending…

Compare results of other browsers

Revisions

You can edit these tests or add even more tests to this page by appending /edit to the URL. Here’s a list of current revisions for this page:

0 comments

Add a comment