Performance of str_replace in PHP

Question

Here I have 2 methods using str_replace to replace strings in a given phrase.

// Method 1
$phrase  = "You should eat fruits, vegetables, and fiber every day.";
$healthy = array("fruits", "vegetables", "fiber");
$yummy   = array("pizza", "beer", "ice cream");
$phrase = str_replace($healthy, $yummy, $phrase);

// Method 2
$phrase  = "You should eat fruits, vegetables, and fiber every day.";
$phrase = str_replace("fruits", "pizza", $phrase);
$phrase = str_replace("vegetables", "beer", $phrase);
$phrase = str_replace("fiber", "ice cream", $phrase);

Which method is more efficient (in terms of execution time & resources used)?

Assume the real phrase is much longer (e.g. 50,000 characters), and the words to replace have a lot more pairs.

What I am thinking is that Method 2 calls str_replace 3 times, which will cost more function calls; on the other hand Method 1 create 2 arrays, and the str_replace needs to parse 2 arrays in runtime.

Answer 1

I would prefer to use method 1 as its cleaner and more organised also Method 1 gives opportunity to use pairs from other source eg: bad words table in database. Method 2 would require another loop of sort..

<?php
$time_start = microtime(true);
for($i=0;$i<=1000000;$i++){
    // Method 1
    $phrase  = "You should eat fruits, vegetables, and fiber every day.";
    $healthy = array("fruits", "vegetables", "fiber");
    $yummy   = array("pizza", "beer", "ice cream");
    $phrase = str_replace($healthy, $yummy, $phrase);
}
$time_end = microtime(true);
$time = $time_end - $time_start;
echo "Did Test 1 in ($time seconds)\n<br />";



$time_start = microtime(true);
for($i=0;$i<=1000000;$i++){
    // Method2
    $phrase  = "You should eat fruits, vegetables, and fiber every day.";
    $phrase = str_replace("fruits", "pizza", $phrase);
    $phrase = str_replace("vegetables", "beer", $phrase);
    $phrase = str_replace("fiber", "ice cream", $phrase);

}
$time_end = microtime(true);
$time = $time_end - $time_start;
echo "Did Test 2 in ($time seconds)\n";
?>  

Did Test 1 in (3.6321988105774 seconds)

Did Test 2 in (2.8234610557556 seconds)

---

Edit: On further test string repeated to 50k, less iterations and advice from ajreal, the difference is so miniscule.

<?php
$phrase  = str_repeat("You should eat fruits, vegetables, and fiber every day.",50000);
$healthy = array("fruits", "vegetables", "fiber");
$yummy   = array("pizza", "beer", "ice cream");

$time_start = microtime(true);
for($i=0;$i<=10;$i++){
    // Method 1
    $phrase = str_replace($healthy, $yummy, $phrase);
}
$time_end = microtime(true);
$time = $time_end - $time_start;
echo "Did Test 1 in ($time seconds)\n<br />";



$time_start = microtime(true);
for($i=0;$i<=10;$i++){
    // Method2
    $phrase = str_replace("fruits", "pizza", $phrase);
    $phrase = str_replace("vegetables", "beer", $phrase);
    $phrase = str_replace("fiber", "ice cream", $phrase);

}
$time_end = microtime(true);
$time = $time_end - $time_start;
echo "Did Test 2 in ($time seconds)\n";
?>  

Did Test 1 in (1.1450328826904 seconds)

Did Test 2 in (1.3119208812714 seconds)