Unsafe Create string directly from Array

Question

The current quickest way I know to uppercase the first letter of a string is as follows:

var array = str.ToCharArray();
array[0] = char.ToUpper(array[0]);
return new string(array);

This involves 2 array allocations: char.ToUpper(array[0]) and the copy to strings internal buffer in new string(array).

Since I know that array doesn't escape this method is there an way using unsafe code to avoid the second allocation?

Maybe this helps you: https://www.stevejgordon.co.uk/creating-strings-with-no-allocation-overhead-using-string-create-csharp — SomeBody, Mar 11 '21 at 07:25
@SomeBody definitely looks like a start. Will try and post full solution as answer soon — Yair Halberstadt, Mar 11 '21 at 07:29
Check this https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4135317/make-first-letter-of-a-string-upper-case-with-maximum-performance — Genusatplay, Mar 11 '21 at 07:36
Thanks @Genusatplay, but none of that suggests a way to avoid this extra allocation — Yair Halberstadt, Mar 11 '21 at 07:38
You check only first answers? https://stackoverflow.com/a/63886117/5446495 — Genusatplay, Mar 11 '21 at 07:45

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 26 '21 at 21:23

Since you asked for the "quickest" way, let's benchmark a couple of things. We as programmers like to work with empirical evidence after all *nods convincingly*

OldSchool

public string OldSchool(string value) 
   => char.ToUpper(value[0]) + value[1..];

Span

public string TestSpan(string value)
   => string.Create(value.Length, value, (span, str) =>
   {
      str.AsSpan().CopyTo(span);
      span[0] = char.ToUpper(span[0]);
   });

Unsafe

public unsafe string TestUnsafe(string value)
{
   var result = new string(value);
   fixed (char* p = result) p[0] = char.ToUpper(p[0]);
   return result;
}

Unsafe Ascii only

public unsafe string TestUnsafeAscii(string value)
{
   var result = new string(value);
   fixed (char* p = result) 
      if(p[0] >= 'a' && p[0] <= 'z') *p += (char)32;
   return result;
}

SuperUnsafe

_{Note : this is for the super brave, where the strings are not inturned and where mutation is not a problem}

public unsafe string SuperUnsafe(string value)
{
   fixed (char* p = value) p[0] = char.ToUpper(p[0]);
   return value;
}

Benchmarks

Configuration

BenchmarkDotNet=v0.12.1, OS=Windows 10.0.19041.804 (2004/?/20H1)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, 1 CPU, 24 logical and 12 physical cores
.NET Core SDK=5.0.201
  [Host]        : .NET Core 5.0.4 (CoreCLR 5.0.421.11614, CoreFX 5.0.421.11614), X64 RyuJIT
  .NET Core 5.0 : .NET Core 5.0.4 (CoreCLR 5.0.421.11614, CoreFX 5.0.421.11614), X64 RyuJIT

Job=.NET Core 5.0  Runtime=.NET Core 5.0

Results

Method	N	Mean	Error	StdDev	Ratio	Gen 0	Gen 1	Gen 2	Allocated
OldSchool	5	44.89 ns	0.389 ns	0.364 ns	1.00	0.0105	-	-	88 B
Span	5	26.37 ns	0.170 ns	0.159 ns	1.00	0.0038	-	-	32 B
Unsafe	5	25.15 ns	0.128 ns	0.119 ns	1.00	0.0038	-	-	32 B
UnsafeAscii	5	11.92 ns	0.093 ns	0.073 ns	1.00	0.0038	-	-	32 B
SuperUnsafe	5	10.22 ns	0.051 ns	0.045 ns	1.00	-	-	-	-

Method	N	Mean	Error	StdDev	Ratio	Gen 0	Gen 1	Gen 2	Allocated
OldSchool	10	49.31 ns	0.595 ns	0.527 ns	1.00	0.0134	-	-	112 B
Span	10	27.71 ns	0.548 ns	0.512 ns	1.00	0.0057	-	-	48 B
Unsafe	10	26.76 ns	0.142 ns	0.126 ns	1.00	0.0057	-	-	48 B
UnsafeAscii	10	13.40 ns	0.103 ns	0.096 ns	1.00	0.0057	-	-	48 B
SuperUnsafe	10	10.28 ns	0.106 ns	0.094 ns	1.00	-	-	-	-

Method	N	Mean	Error	StdDev	Ratio	Gen 0	Gen 1	Gen 2	Allocated
OldSchool	100	83.52 ns	0.966 ns	0.903 ns	1.00	0.0564	-	-	472 B
Span	100	45.77 ns	0.441 ns	0.412 ns	1.00	0.0268	-	-	224 B
Unsafe	100	44.07 ns	0.511 ns	0.453 ns	1.00	0.0268	-	-	224 B
UnsafeAscii	100	31.45 ns	0.382 ns	0.357 ns	1.00	0.0268	-	-	224 B
SuperUnsafe	100	10.26 ns	0.078 ns	0.073 ns	1.00	-	-	-	-

Method	N	Mean	Error	StdDev	Ratio	Gen 0	Gen 1	Gen 2	Allocated
OldSchool	1000	512.05 ns	2.909 ns	2.578 ns	1.00	0.4864	0.0052	-	4072 B
Span	1000	260.35 ns	2.593 ns	2.425 ns	1.00	0.2418	0.0017	-	2024 B
Unsafe	1000	255.06 ns	1.587 ns	1.407 ns	1.00	0.2418	0.0017	-	2024 B
UnsafeAscii	1000	247.60 ns	2.500 ns	2.338 ns	1.00	0.2418	0.0017	-	2024 B
SuperUnsafe	1000	10.21 ns	0.060 ns	0.056 ns	1.00	-	-	-	-

Full Test Code

public class Test
{

   private string _data;

   private static readonly Random random = new Random(42);

   public static string RandomString(int length)
   {
      const string chars = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789";
      return new string(Enumerable.Repeat(chars, length)
         .Select(s => s[random.Next(s.Length)]).ToArray());
   }

   [Params(5, 10, 100, 1000)] public int N;

   [GlobalSetup]
   public void Setup()
   {
      _data = RandomString(N);
   }

   [Benchmark]
   public string OldSchool() => OldSchool(_data);

   public string OldSchool(string value)
      => char.ToUpper(value[0]) + value[1..];

   [Benchmark]
   public string Span() => TestSpan(_data);

   public string TestSpan(string value)
      => string.Create(value.Length, value, (span, str) =>
      {
         str.AsSpan().CopyTo(span);
         span[0] = char.ToUpper(span[0]);
      });

   [Benchmark]
   public string Unsafe() => TestUnsafe(_data);

   public unsafe string TestUnsafe(string value)
   {
      var result = new string(value);
      fixed (char* p = result) p[0] = char.ToUpper(p[0]);
      return result;
   }

   [Benchmark]
   public unsafe string SuperUnsafe() => SuperUnsafe(_data);

   public unsafe string SuperUnsafe(string value)
   {
      fixed (char* p = value) p[0] = char.ToUpper(p[0]);
      return value;
   }

   [Benchmark]
   public string UnsafeAscii() => TestUnsafeAscii(_data);

   public unsafe string TestUnsafeAscii(string value)
   {
      var result = new string(value);
      fixed (char* p = result) 
         if(p[0] >= 'a' && p[0] <= 'z') *p += (char)32;
      return result;
   }
}

Note that the Unsafe version could end up being super unsafe if https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/pull/31971 is ever implemented — Yair Halberstadt, Mar 11 '21 at 08:50
@YairHalberstadt yeah interesting, this would be a breaking change if they turned it on by default, surely senses will prevail and it will be opt in — TheGeneral, Mar 11 '21 at 09:01
That's the plan. Also they probably won't deduplicate instances on the stack (see last section), so this would probably be ok. — Yair Halberstadt, Mar 11 '21 at 09:06

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 11 '21 at 07:37

Thanks to @SomeBody for pointing me in the right direction:

public static string ToUpperFirstLetter(string str)
{
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(str))
        throw new ArgumentException(str);

    return string.Create(str.Length, str, (span, str) =>
    {
        str.AsSpan().CopyTo(span);
        span[0] = char.ToUpper(span[0]);
    });
}

Unsafe Create string directly from Array

2 Answers2

Benchmarks