[Python-ideas] More user-friendly version for string.translate()

[Chris Barker]

On Fri, Oct 28, 2016 at 7:28 AM, Terry Reedy <tjreedy at udel.edu> wrote:

> >>> s = 'kjskljkxcvnalsfjaweirKJZknzsnlkjsvnskjszsdscccjasfdjf'
> >>> s2 = ''.join(c for c in s if c in set('abc'))
>

pretty slick -- but any hope of it being as fast as a C implemented method?

for example, with a 1000 char string:

In [59]: % timeit string.translate(table)
100000 loops, best of 3: 3.62 µs per loop


In [60]: % timeit ''.join(c for c in string if c in set(letters))
1000 loops, best of 3: 1.14 ms per loop

so the translate() method is about 300 times faster in this case. (and it
used a defaultdict with a None factory, which is probably a bit slower than
a pure C implementation might be.

I've always figured that Python's rich string methods provided two things:

1) single method call to do common things

2) nice fast, pure C performance

so I think a "keep these" method would help with both of these goals.

-CHB


-- 

Christopher Barker, Ph.D.
Oceanographer

Emergency Response Division
NOAA/NOS/OR&R            (206) 526-6959   voice
7600 Sand Point Way NE   (206) 526-6329   fax
Seattle, WA  98115       (206) 526-6317   main reception

Chris.Barker at noaa.gov
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-ideas/attachments/20161031/5832bde3/attachment.html>