pathinfo vs fnmatch

Question

There was a small debate regarding the speed of fnmatch over pathinfo here : how to check if file is php?

I wasn't totally convinced so decided to benchmark the two functions.

Using dynamic and static paths showed that pathinfo was faster.

Is my benchmarking logic and conclusion valid?

EDIT: Using mac php from cmd

PHP 5.3.0 (cli) (built: Jul 20 2009 13:56:33) Copyright (c) 1997-2009 The PHP Group Zend Engine v2.3.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2009 Zend Technologies

dynamic path pathinfo 3.2973630428314 fnmatch 3.4520659446716 x1.05

static path pathinfo 0.86487698554993 fnmatch 1.0420439243317 x1.2

mac xampp php from cmd

PHP 5.3.1 (cli) (built: Feb 27 2010 12:41:51) Copyright (c) 1997-2009 The PHP Group Zend Engine v2.3.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2009 Zend Technologies

dynamic path pathinfo 3.63922715187 fnmatch 4.99041700363 x1.37

static path pathinfo 1.03110480309 fnmatch 2.38929820061 x2.32

I include a sample of the results which are in seconds for 100,000 iterations on my machine :

dynamic path
pathinfo 3.79311800003
fnmatch 5.10071492195
x1.34

static path
pathinfo 1.03921294212
fnmatch 2.37709188461
x2.29

Code:

<pre>
<?php

$iterations=100000;

// Benchmark with dynamic file path
print("dynamic path\n");

$i=$iterations;
$t1=microtime(true);
while($i-->0){
    $f='/'.uniqid().'/'.uniqid().'/'.uniqid().'/'.uniqid().'.php';
    if(pathinfo($f,PATHINFO_EXTENSION)=='php') $d=uniqid();
}
$t2=microtime(true) - $t1;

print("pathinfo $t2\n");

$i=$iterations;
$t1=microtime(true);
while($i-->0){
    $f='/'.uniqid().'/'.uniqid().'/'.uniqid().'/'.uniqid().'.php';
    if(fnmatch('*.php',$f)) $d=uniqid();
}
$t3 = microtime(true) - $t1;

print("fnmatch $t3\n");

print('x'.round($t3/$t2,2)."\n\n");

// Benchmark with static file path
print("static path\n");

$f='/'.uniqid().'/'.uniqid().'/'.uniqid().'/'.uniqid().'.php';

$i=$iterations;
$t1=microtime(true);
while($i-->0) if(pathinfo($f,PATHINFO_EXTENSION)=='php') $d=uniqid();
$t2=microtime(true) - $t1;

print("pathinfo $t2\n");

$i=$iterations;
$t1=microtime(true);
while($i-->0) if(fnmatch('*.php',$f)) $d=uniqid();
$t3=microtime(true) - $t1;

print("fnmatch $t3\n");

print('x'.round($t3/$t2,2)."\n\n");

?>
</pre>

Answer 1

I've upvoted all the answers but will answer my own question.

My benchmarking logic and conclusion is valid AND all the answers benchmarks are valid.

I've found the reason why, which has raised another question but rather making this post go off in a tangent and making it even longer I'll be opening another question. I'll put the new link here when I've done so.

Thanks for benchmarking for me!

EDIT: here is the part 2 question: (Pathinfo vs fnmatch part 2) Speed benchmark reversed on Windows and Mac