Iterate with PCRE2

For our new PCRE2CodeMBS class, we add a new Matches method. It returns an iterator, so you can use it with a for-each loop in Xojo:

Sub test() Dim rx As New PCRE2CompilerMBS rx.CaseLess = True rx.DotAll = False rx.Ungreedy = False rx.NewLine = rx.kNewLineAnyCRLF rx.Multiline = True rx.Pattern = kMarkerPattern Dim code As PCRE2CodeMBS = rx.Compile If UseJIT Then code.JITCompile(code.kJITComplete) End If for each MatchData as PCRE2MatchDataMBS in code.Matches(TestString, 0) foundCount = foundCount + 1 next End Sub

One of the key elements ot reach best performance is to reuse the PCRE2CodeMBS objects and avoid compilation as much as you can. Second, you avoid creating PCRE2MatchDataMBS objects and reuse them. The iterator does that by default for you.

Let us show you the numbers from our benchmark:

	RegEx Xojo	RegEx MBS	PCRE2	PCRE2+JIT	PCRE2 Iterator	PCRE2 Iterator+JIT
Match 500 in 1 MB	171317	3478	3521	266	3231	277
Match 500 in 10 MB	1711241	30627	30742	928	30542	1063
Match 5000 in 1 MB	1642035	3234	3776	434	3660	478
Match 5000 in 10 MB	16834198	30906	31200	1363	31157	1456

Tests made with MBS Xojo Plugins 22.2pr and Xojo 2022r2.1 on a current MacBook Pro. The Xojo value is a 10 times average while the MBS calls are averaged over running 100 times. But at the quick turn around times of the compiled code, it gets hard to measure!

If you haven't tried yet, please give the PCRE2 classes with just-in-time compiler a try. They are often 10 times faster compared to our already quick RegExMBS class.