Add string to string python

If you only have one reference to a string and you concatenate another string to the end, CPython now special cases this and tries to extend the string in place.

The end result is that the operation is amortized O(n).

e.g.

s = ""
for i in range(n):
    s+=str(i)

used to be O(n^2), but now it is O(n).

From the source (bytesobject.c):

void
PyBytes_ConcatAndDel(register PyObject **pv, register PyObject *w)
{
    PyBytes_Concat(pv, w);
    Py_XDECREF(w);
}


/* The following function breaks the notion that strings are immutable:
   it changes the size of a string.  We get away with this only if there
   is only one module referencing the object.  You can also think of it
   as creating a new string object and destroying the old one, only
   more efficiently.  In any case, don't use this if the string may
   already be known to some other part of the code...
   Note that if there's not enough memory to resize the string, the original
   string object at *pv is deallocated, *pv is set to NULL, an "out of
   memory" exception is set, and -1 is returned.  Else (on success) 0 is
   returned, and the value in *pv may or may not be the same as on input.
   As always, an extra byte is allocated for a trailing \0 byte (newsize
   does *not* include that), and a trailing \0 byte is stored.
*/

int
_PyBytes_Resize(PyObject **pv, Py_ssize_t newsize)
{
    register PyObject *v;
    register PyBytesObject *sv;
    v = *pv;
    if (!PyBytes_Check(v) || Py_REFCNT(v) != 1 || newsize < 0) {
        *pv = 0;
        Py_DECREF(v);
        PyErr_BadInternalCall();
        return -1;
    }
    /* XXX UNREF/NEWREF interface should be more symmetrical */
    _Py_DEC_REFTOTAL;
    _Py_ForgetReference(v);
    *pv = (PyObject *)
        PyObject_REALLOC((char *)v, PyBytesObject_SIZE + newsize);
    if (*pv == NULL) {
        PyObject_Del(v);
        PyErr_NoMemory();
        return -1;
    }
    _Py_NewReference(*pv);
    sv = (PyBytesObject *) *pv;
    Py_SIZE(sv) = newsize;
    sv->ob_sval[newsize] = '\0';
    sv->ob_shash = -1;          /* invalidate cached hash value */
    return 0;
}

It's easy enough to verify empirically.

$ python -m timeit -s"s=''" "for i in xrange(10):s+='a'"
1000000 loops, best of 3: 1.85 usec per loop
$ python -m timeit -s"s=''" "for i in xrange(100):s+='a'"
10000 loops, best of 3: 16.8 usec per loop
$ python -m timeit -s"s=''" "for i in xrange(1000):s+='a'"
10000 loops, best of 3: 158 usec per loop
$ python -m timeit -s"s=''" "for i in xrange(10000):s+='a'"
1000 loops, best of 3: 1.71 msec per loop
$ python -m timeit -s"s=''" "for i in xrange(100000):s+='a'"
10 loops, best of 3: 14.6 msec per loop
$ python -m timeit -s"s=''" "for i in xrange(1000000):s+='a'"
10 loops, best of 3: 173 msec per loop

It's important however to note that this optimisation isn't part of the Python spec. It's only in the cPython implementation as far as I know. The same empirical testing on pypy or jython for example might show the older O(n**2) performance .

$ pypy -m timeit -s"s=''" "for i in xrange(10):s+='a'"
10000 loops, best of 3: 90.8 usec per loop
$ pypy -m timeit -s"s=''" "for i in xrange(100):s+='a'"
1000 loops, best of 3: 896 usec per loop
$ pypy -m timeit -s"s=''" "for i in xrange(1000):s+='a'"
100 loops, best of 3: 9.03 msec per loop
$ pypy -m timeit -s"s=''" "for i in xrange(10000):s+='a'"
10 loops, best of 3: 89.5 msec per loop

So far so good, but then,

$ pypy -m timeit -s"s=''" "for i in xrange(100000):s+='a'"
10 loops, best of 3: 12.8 sec per loop

ouch even worse than quadratic. So pypy is doing something that works well with short strings, but performs poorly for larger strings.

❮ Python Glossary

String Concatenation

String concatenation means add strings together.

Use the + character to add a variable to another variable:

Example

x = "Python is "
y = "awesome"
z =  x + y
print(z)

Try it Yourself »

Example

Merge variable a with variable b into variable c:

a = "Hello"
b = "World"
c = a + b
print(c)

Try it Yourself »

Example

To add a space between them, add a " ":

a = "Hello"
b = "World"
c = a + " " + b
print(c)

Try it Yourself »

For numbers, the + character works as a mathematical operator:

Example

x = 5
y = 10
print(x + y)

Try it Yourself »

If you try to combine a string and a number, Python will give you an error:

Example

x = 5
y = "John"
print(x + y)

Try it Yourself »

Related Pages

Python Variables Tutorial Creating Variables Variable Names Assign Value to Multiple Variables Output Variables Global Variables

❮ Python Glossary

Can we append string in Python?

How do you add a string to a string?

How do you append a character to a string in Python?

How do you append text in Python?

How do you add 3 strings in Python?