OSH Parser Performance

We time $sh -n $file for various files under various shells, and repeat then run under cachegrind for stable metrics.

Source code: oils/benchmarks/osh-parser.sh

Raw files

Summary

Instructions Per Line (via cachegrind)

Lower numbers are generally better, but each shell recognizes a different language, and OSH uses a more thorough parsing algorithm. In thousands of "I refs".

shell label total lines thousand irefs per line
bash 118,863 7.3
dash 111,674 2.4
osh-native 118,863 11.1
osh-nosouffle 118,863 12.6

(zsh isn't measured because zsh -n unexpectedly forks.)

Average Parsing Rate, Measured on Two Machines (lines/ms)

Shell startup time is included in the elapsed time measurements, but long files are chosen to minimize its effect.

shell label total lines host no-host
dash 111,674 2,549
bash 118,863 1,202
osh-native 118,863 434
osh-nosouffle 118,863 414
osh-cpython 118,863 9

Per-File Measurements

Time and Memory

shell label elapsed ms user ms sys ms max rss MB num lines filename
dash 2 2 0 2 2,698 Build.sh
bash 3 3 0 3 2,698 Build.sh
osh-native 7 5 3 9 2,698 Build.sh
osh-nosouffle 8 4 4 9 2,698 Build.sh
osh-cpython 339 314 26 22 2,698 Build.sh
dash 2 1 1 2 2,512 abuild
bash 4 3 1 3 2,512 abuild
osh-native 9 6 3 9 2,512 abuild
osh-nosouffle 10 6 4 9 2,512 abuild
osh-cpython 460 436 24 22 2,512 abuild
dash 9 8 1 2 20,489 configure
bash 17 16 1 4 20,489 configure
osh-native 41 36 5 23 20,489 configure
osh-nosouffle 44 32 12 23 20,489 configure
osh-cpython 2,300 2,256 45 44 20,489 configure
dash 23 22 1 2 69,779 configure-coreutils
bash 43 41 2 3 69,779 configure-coreutils
osh-native 158 135 22 52 69,779 configure-coreutils
osh-nosouffle 162 133 29 52 69,779 configure-coreutils
osh-cpython 6,598 6,508 88 91 69,779 configure-coreutils
bash 4 4 0 3 2,029 configure-helper.sh
osh-native 7 5 2 9 2,029 configure-helper.sh
osh-nosouffle 7 4 3 9 2,029 configure-helper.sh
osh-cpython 359 335 23 21 2,029 configure-helper.sh
dash 1 0 1 2 1,733 functions
bash 3 1 1 3 1,733 functions
osh-native 7 5 2 8 1,733 functions
osh-nosouffle 7 4 3 9 1,733 functions
osh-cpython 323 300 23 21 1,733 functions
dash 5 2 2 2 9,661 ltmain.sh
bash 10 10 0 4 9,661 ltmain.sh
osh-native 20 14 6 15 9,661 ltmain.sh
osh-nosouffle 22 12 10 16 9,661 ltmain.sh
osh-cpython 1,085 1,059 26 30 9,661 ltmain.sh
dash 1 0 1 2 1,679 t4014-format-patch.sh
bash 2 2 0 3 1,679 t4014-format-patch.sh
osh-native 4 2 2 7 1,679 t4014-format-patch.sh
osh-nosouffle 4 3 1 8 1,679 t4014-format-patch.sh
osh-cpython 122 100 22 19 1,679 t4014-format-patch.sh
dash 1 0 1 1 3,123 t9300-fast-import.sh
bash 3 1 2 3 3,123 t9300-fast-import.sh
osh-native 4 4 0 8 3,123 t9300-fast-import.sh
osh-nosouffle 4 3 2 8 3,123 t9300-fast-import.sh
osh-cpython 122 105 17 19 3,123 t9300-fast-import.sh
bash 11 8 3 3 5,160 test-cmd-util.sh
osh-native 17 12 5 12 5,160 test-cmd-util.sh
osh-nosouffle 19 13 6 13 5,160 test-cmd-util.sh
osh-cpython 954 927 27 28 5,160 test-cmd-util.sh

Instruction Counts

shell label irefs num lines filename
dash 6,684,258 2,698 Build.sh
bash 19,403,577 2,698 Build.sh
osh-native 31,595,383 2,698 Build.sh
osh-nosouffle 35,843,165 2,698 Build.sh
dash 7,346,197 2,512 abuild
bash 23,586,858 2,512 abuild
osh-native 44,713,470 2,512 abuild
osh-nosouffle 52,278,141 2,512 abuild
dash 55,988,490 20,489 configure
bash 166,013,802 20,489 configure
osh-native 231,139,489 20,489 configure
osh-nosouffle 263,055,825 20,489 configure
dash 161,016,284 69,779 configure-coreutils
bash 440,767,942 69,779 configure-coreutils
osh-native 748,359,375 69,779 configure-coreutils
osh-nosouffle 837,534,184 69,779 configure-coreutils
bash 22,799,636 2,029 configure-helper.sh
osh-native 25,983,432 2,029 configure-helper.sh
osh-nosouffle 30,261,597 2,029 configure-helper.sh
dash 4,811,799 1,733 functions
bash 15,312,098 1,733 functions
osh-native 24,468,764 1,733 functions
osh-nosouffle 28,857,633 1,733 functions
dash 24,904,718 9,661 ltmain.sh
bash 80,310,064 9,661 ltmain.sh
osh-native 96,272,511 9,661 ltmain.sh
osh-nosouffle 112,483,351 9,661 ltmain.sh
dash 3,294,377 1,679 t4014-format-patch.sh
osh-native 10,061,840 1,679 t4014-format-patch.sh
osh-nosouffle 11,036,766 1,679 t4014-format-patch.sh
bash 11,082,677 1,679 t4014-format-patch.sh
dash 4,585,030 3,123 t9300-fast-import.sh
osh-native 11,866,280 3,123 t9300-fast-import.sh
osh-nosouffle 13,016,711 3,123 t9300-fast-import.sh
bash 16,659,503 3,123 t9300-fast-import.sh
bash 73,195,614 5,160 test-cmd-util.sh
osh-native 96,177,303 5,160 test-cmd-util.sh
osh-nosouffle 112,284,431 5,160 test-cmd-util.sh

Shell and Host Details

shell label shell id
bash bash-36833674
dash dash-cea41b3e
osh-cpython osh-2000add0
osh-native osh-3c1d92a6
osh-nosouffle osh-nosouffle-96a8de97
host label host id
no-host no-host-9c670df1

Raw Data

filename
no-host.2025-12-08__18-45-48.cachegrind.tsv
no-host.2025-12-08__18-45-48.times.csv