innerHTML vs removeChild vs replaceChild (v53)

Revision 53 of this benchmark created on

Description

what method for empty a element is faster ?

Preparation HTML

<div style="width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden;">
<div id='box1'></div>
<div id='box2'></div>
<div id='box3'></div>
</div>

Setup

var testPattern = '<div>hello<div style="background-color: #000000;">ttt</div></div>';
    var i, testString;
    for (i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
      testString += testPattern;
    }
    
    var box1 = document.getElementById('box1');
    var box2 = document.getElementById('box2');
    var box3 = document.getElementById('box3');
    
    box1.innerHTML = testString;
    box2.innerHTML = testString;
    box3.innerHTML = testString;
    
    function test1() {
      if (!box1) return;
      while (box1.firstChild) {
        box1.removeChild(box1.firstChild);
      }
      box1 = null;
    }
    
    function test2() {
      if (!box2) return;
      var parent = box2.parentNode;
      parent.removeChild(box2);
      box2.innerHTML = '';
      parent.appendChild(box2);
      box2 = null;
    }
    
    function test3() {
      if (!box3) return;
      var parent = box3.parentNode;
      parent.replaceChild(box3.cloneNode(false), box3);
      box3 = null;
    }

Test runner

Ready to run.

Testing in
TestOps/sec
removeChild
test1();
ready
innerHTML
test2();
ready
replaceChild
test3();
ready

Revisions

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