Benchmark: PHP array_splice vs. unset & array_values

If you’re wondering which of these two popular techniques for removing array indexes is fastest, this should be of some help.

Function	Time	Comparison
unset() & array_values()	1.645 seconds	(10.3% faster)
array_splice()	1.834 seconds

Here is the code:

<?php

function getmicrotime()
{
  list($usec, $sec) = explode(' ',microtime());
  return ((float)$usec + (float)$sec);
}

$time_start = getmicrotime();
for ($i=0; $i<1000000; $i++)
{
  $test_array = array(0,1,2,3,4,5);
  array_splice($test_array, 3, 1);
}
echo 'array_splice() :: '.number_format(getmicrotime()-$time_start,3).' seconds<br/>';

$time_start = getmicrotime();
for ($i=0; $i<1000000; $i++)
{
  $test_array = array(0,1,2,3,4,5);
  unset($test_array[3]);
  $test_array = array_values($test_array);
}
echo 'unset() & array_values() :: '.number_format(getmicrotime()-$time_start,3).' seconds<br/>';