The first will be more effective. The compiler will convert it to the following single call:
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.Append("HelloHowareyou");
performance measurement
The best way to find out which is faster is to measure it. I'll go right away: here are the results (less time means faster):
sb.Append("Hello" + "How" + "are" + "you") : 11.428s
sb.Append("Hello").Append("How").Append("are").Append("you"): 15.314s
sb.Append(a + b + c + d) : 21.970s
sb.Append(a).Append(b).Append(c).Append(d) : 15.529s
The number indicated is the number of seconds to complete an operation 100 million times in a compressed cycle.
findings
- The fastest are string literals and
+. - ,
Append , +. - String.Concat.
, , :
using System;
using System.Text;
public class Program
{
public static void Main()
{
DateTime start, end;
int numberOfIterations = 100000000;
start = DateTime.UtcNow;
for (int i = 0; i < numberOfIterations; ++i)
{
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.Append("Hello" + "How" + "are" + "you");
}
end = DateTime.UtcNow;
DisplayResult("sb.Append(\"Hello\" + \"How\" + \"are\" + \"you\")", start, end);
start = DateTime.UtcNow;
for (int i = 0; i < numberOfIterations; ++i)
{
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.Append("Hello").Append("How").Append("are").Append("you");
}
end = DateTime.UtcNow;
DisplayResult("sb.Append(\"Hello\").Append(\"How\").Append(\"are\").Append(\"you\")", start, end);
string a = "Hello";
string b = "How";
string c = "are";
string d = "you";
start = DateTime.UtcNow;
for (int i = 0; i < numberOfIterations; ++i)
{
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.Append(a + b + c + d);
}
end = DateTime.UtcNow;
DisplayResult("sb.Append(a + b + c + d)", start, end);
start = DateTime.UtcNow;
for (int i = 0; i < numberOfIterations; ++i)
{
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.Append(a).Append(b).Append(c).Append(d);
}
end = DateTime.UtcNow;
DisplayResult("sb.Append(a).Append(b).Append(c).Append(d)", start, end);
Console.ReadLine();
}
private static void DisplayResult(string name, DateTime start, DateTime end)
{
Console.WriteLine("{0,-60}: {1,6:0.000}s", name, (end - start).TotalSeconds);
}
}