Passing a string by value, reference and rvalue

Question

I'm just comparing the performance of passing a string to a function. The benchmark results are interesting.

Here's my code:

void add(std::string msg)
{
    msg += "world";
}

void addRvalue(std::string&& msg)
{
    msg += "world";
}

void addRef(std::string& msg)
{
    msg += "world";
}

void StringCreation() {
    add(std::string("hello "));
}

void StringCopy() {
    std::string msg("hello ");
    add(msg);
}

void StringMove() {
    std::string msg("hello ");
    add(std::move(msg));
}

void StringRvalue() {
    std::string msg("hello ");
    addRvalue(std::move(msg));
}

void StringReference() {
    std::string msg("hello ");
    addRef(msg);
}

StringCreation(), StringRvalue() and StringReference() are equivalent. I'm surprised StringMove() is the least performant - worse than pass by value which involves a copy.

Am I right in thinking that calling StringMove() involves one move constructor followed by a copy constructor when it calls add()? It doesn't just involve one move constructor? I thought move construction was cheap for a string.

Update

I increased the length of the string passed to add() and that did make a difference. Now StringMove() is only 1.1 times slower than StringCreation and StringReference. StringCopy is now the worst, which is what I expected.

Here are the new benchmark results.

So StringMove doesn't involve copying after all - only for small strings.

Answer 1

Let's analyze your code and suppose long strings (without applied SSO):

void add(std::string msg) {
   msg += "world";
}

void StringCreation() {
   add(std::string("hello "));
}

Here, a converting constructor (ConvC) from the string literal is called first to initialize the temporary std::string("hello "). This temporary (an rvalue) is then used to initialize the parameter msg by the move constructor (MC). However, the latter is very likely optimized away by copy elision. Finally, the operator += is called. Bottom line: 1x ConvC and 1x +=.

void StringCopy() {
   std::string msg("hello ");
   add(msg);
}

Here, the parameter msg is copy-initialized (by copy constructor - CC) by the lvalue argument msg. Bottom line: 1x ConvC, 1x CC, and 1x +=. In case of long strings, this is the slowest version, since copy involves dynamic memory allocations (the only case).

void StringMove() {
   std::string msg("hello ");
   add(std::move(msg));
}

Why is this slower than StringCreation? Simply because there is an additional MC involved that initializes the parameter msg. It cannot be elided, since the object msg still exist after the call of add. Just it is moved-from. Bottom line: 1x ConvC, 1x MC, 1x +=.

void addRef(std::string& msg) {
   msg += "world";
}

void StringReference() {
   std::string msg("hello ");
   addRef(msg);
}

Here, the operator += is applied to the referenced object, so there is no reason for any copy/move. Bottom line: 1x ConvC, 1x +=. Same time as for StringCreation.

void addRvalue(std::string&& msg) {
   msg += "world";
}

void StringRvalue() {
   std::string msg("hello ");
   addRvalue(std::move(msg));
}

With Clang, the time is same as for StringReference. With GCC, the time is same as for StringMove. In fact, I don't have an explanation for this behavior for now. (It seems to me that GCC is creating some additional temporary initialized by MC. However, I don't know why.)

Answer 2

In this example, none of the functions that are being "benchmarked" are actually doing anything of consequence. That is, none of them actually returns an computed value that is then used elsewhere.

So, any (half-)decent compiler would probably just decide to ignore them completely!

In order for a valid benchmark to be made, then the string results from each/every call must be used for something, even simple output to a file/console.

Try this code to see what's (not) happening:

#include<iostream>
#include<string>

using namespace std;

void add(std::string msg)
{
    msg += " + 'add'";
}

void addRef(std::string& msg)
{
    msg += " + 'addRef'";
}

void addRvalue(std::string&& msg)
{
    msg += " + 'addRefRef'";
}

int main()
{
    std::string msg("Initial string!");
    cout << msg << endl;
    add(msg);
    cout << msg << endl; // msg will be the same as before!
    addRef(msg);
    cout << msg << endl; // msg will be extended!
    addRvalue(std::move(msg));
    cout << msg << endl; // msg will again be extended
    add(std::move(msg)); 
    cout << msg << endl; // msg will be completely emptied!
    return 0;
}