A simple PHP script to test speed

Works with all versions of PHP: from 4.3 to 8.2

Dependencies

Required modules for full php testing:

pcre
mbstring
json
dom
simplexml
intl
optional:
- gd
- imagick
- zlib
- bz2
- brotli
- zstd
- igbinary
- msgpack

Usually they are already installed or "compiled" in php.

How to check it:

in console: php -m
or via function phpinfo() output

Modules affecting test results

xdebug - can slow down most of the tests by half, and some related to error handling - by 10!
opcache - can cache the execution of functions, or throw out "not affecting execution" pieces of code
other opcode accelerators: xcache, apc, eaccelerator, etc.

Startup

0. Files

You need to put these files in one directory: bench.php, common.inc, php5.inc, php7.inc, igbinary.inc, msgpack.inc, compression.inc, php-gd-imagick-common.inc, php-gd.inc, php-imagick.inc, test.xml.

1. Through the console

Command:

Usage: bench.php [-h|--help] [-x|--debug] [-C|--dont-use-colors] [-J|--print-json] [-M|--print-machine] [-d|--dont-recalc] [-D|--dumb-test-print] [-L|--list-tests] [-I|--system-info] [-S|--do-not-task-set] [-m|--memory-limit=130] [-t|--time-limit=600] [-T|--run-test=name1 ...]

	-h|--help		- print this help and exit
	-x|--debug		- enable debug mode, raise output level
	-C|--dont-use-colors	- disable printing html-span or color sequences for capable terminal: xterm, *-color, *-256color. And not in JSON/machine mode.
	-J|--print-json	- enable printing only in JSON format, useful for automated tests. disables print-machine.
	-M|--print-machine	- enable printing only in machine parsable format, useful for automated tests. disables print-json.
	-d|--dont-recalc	- do not recalculate test times / operations count even if memory of execution time limits are low
	-D|--dumb-test-print	- print dumb test time, for debug purpose
	-L|--list-tests		- output list of available tests and exit
	-I|--system-info	- output system info but do not run tests and exit
	-m|--memory-limit <Mb>	- set memory_limit value in Mb, defaults to 130 (Mb)
	-t|--time-limit <sec>	- set max_execution_time value in seconds, defaults to 600 (sec)
	-T|--run-test <name>	- run selected test, test names from --list-tests output, can be defined multiple times

Example: php bench.php -m=64 -t=30

The second option for passing values for parameters is environment variables:

env PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT=64 PHP_TIME_LIMIT=30 php bench.php

Available variables:

PHP_TIME_LIMIT=
PHP_DEBUG_MODE=0/1
DONT_USE_COLORS=0/1
PRINT_JSON=0/1
PRINT_MACHINE=0/1
PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT=<Мб>
DONT_RECALCULATE_LIMITS=0/1
LIST_TESTS=0/1
SYSTEM_INFO=0/1
RUN_TESTS=test1,test2,...

Extras (Utilities in Linux)

You can set the priority of a process with the command nice - от -20 (high) до 19 (low). For example, priority 5: nice -5 php bench.php. Read man nice.
You can set I/O priority with the command ionice. Example: ionice -c3 php bench.php. Read man ionice.
You can bind script execution to the processor core with the command taskset. Example: taskset -c -p 0 php bench.php. Read man taskset.
Вы можете комбинировать команды: taskset -c -p 0 nice -10 ionice -c3 php bench.php.

2. Through web servers (apache + php)

Just put in any php directory of the site available for execution, for example, in the root.

Then the script can be called with parameters, as from the console: curl http://www.example.com/bench.php?memory_limit=64&time_limit=30 or via browser.

Available options:

time_limit=Секунды
debug_mode=0/1
dont_use_colors=0/1
print_json=0/1
print_machine=0/1
memory_limit=Мб
dont_recalculate_limits=0/1
list_tests=0/1
system_info=0/1
run_tests=test1,test2,...

Accounting for hosting options

On many hostings, the memory_limit and max_execution_time parameters can be hardcoded.

In this case, the script will not be able to set the parameter values passed to it, at least not above the limits.

The script execution time will be recalculated according to the smallest resulting values.

Other platforms

For example, on Raspberry Pi 2B, 3B and other similar boards, the execution speed is so slow, that you have to specify the -d -t 3600 options to make all the tests pass.

This applies to all ARM, MIPS, etc. As well as old AMD and Intel processors like Celeron, Atom, Duron, etc.

Example script output

Generic format

<<< WARNING >>> You need to disable Xdebug extension! It greatly slow things down! And mess with PHP internals.
<<< WARNING >>> Execution time limit not droppped to '600' seconds!
Script will have only '0' seconds to run.
<<< WARNING >>> Extension 'xdebug' loaded! It will affect results and slow things greatly! Even if not enabled!
<<< WARNING >>> Set xdebug.mode in php.ini / VHost or FPM config / php_admin_value or via cmd '-dxdebug.mode=off' option of PHP executable.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                  PHP BENCHMARK SCRIPT                                   |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Start               : 2022-05-03 18:22:49
Server              : Linux/5.4.0-104-lowlatency x86_64
Platform            : Linux
System              : Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS
CPU                 :
              model : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6600K CPU @ 3.50GHz
              cores : 4
          available : 4
                MHz : 3600 MHz
Benchmark version   : 1.0.57
PHP version         : 7.4.29-SergeyD/6.1
PHP time limit      : 0 sec
Setup time limit    : 600 sec
PHP memory limit    : 128M
Setup memory limit  : 130 Mb
Crypt hash algo     : MD5
     Loaded modules
          -useful->
               json : yes
           mbstring : yes;
               pcre : yes; version: 10.39 2021-10-29
          simplexml : yes; libxml version: 2.9.4
                dom : yes
               intl : yes; icu version: 66.1
        -optional->
                 gd : yes: version: 2.2.5
            imagick : yes: version: ImageMagick 6.9.7-4 Q16 x86_64 20170114 http://www.imagemagick.org
     -alternative->
           igbinary : yes
            msgpack : yes
              jsond : no
   jsond as json >> : no
     -compression->
               zlib : yes
                bz2 : yes
                lz4 : yes
               zstd : yes
             brotli : yes
       -affecting->
            opcache : yes; enabled: 0
             xcache : no; enabled: 0
                apc : no; enabled: 0
       eaccelerator : no; enabled: 0
             xdebug : yes, enabled: 1, mode: 'develop'
     PHP parameters
       open_basedir : is empty? yes
   mb.func_overload : 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TEST NAME                      :      SECONDS |       OP/SEC |      OP/SEC/MHz |    MEMORY
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
01_math                        :    2.958 sec | 676.22 kOp/s | 178.48  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
02_string_concat               :    1.683 sec |  14.86 MOp/s |   3.92 kOps/MHz |  89.83 Mb
03_1_string_number_concat      :    1.544 sec |   3.24 MOp/s | 854.83  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
03_2_string_number_format      :    1.348 sec |   3.71 MOp/s | 979.33  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
04_string_simple_functions     :    1.320 sec | 984.64 kOp/s | 259.88  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
05_string_multibyte            :    1.061 sec | 122.47 kOp/s |  32.32  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
06_string_manipulation         :    2.397 sec | 542.37 kOp/s | 143.15  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
07_regex                       :    2.035 sec | 638.84 kOp/s | 168.61  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
08_1_hashing                   :    2.030 sec | 640.31 kOp/s | 169.00  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
08_2_crypt                     :    8.698 sec |   1.15 kOp/s |   0.30  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
09_json_encode                 :    2.322 sec | 559.91 kOp/s | 147.78  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
10_json_decode                 :    3.556 sec | 365.54 kOp/s |  96.48  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
11_igb_serialize               :    2.894 sec | 449.19 kOp/s | 124.78  Ops/MHz |      3 Mb
11_msgpack_pack                :    2.054 sec | 633.01 kOp/s | 175.84  Ops/MHz |      3 Mb
11_serialize                   :    3.727 sec | 348.79 kOp/s |  96.89  Ops/MHz |      3 Mb
12_igb_unserialize             :    2.123 sec | 612.31 kOp/s | 170.09  Ops/MHz |      3 Mb
12_msgpack_unpack              :    2.657 sec | 489.30 kOp/s | 135.92  Ops/MHz |      3 Mb
12_unserialize                 :    3.226 sec | 402.91 kOp/s | 111.92  Ops/MHz |      3 Mb
11_serialize                   :    1.551 sec | 838.30 kOp/s | 221.25  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
12_unserialize                 :    1.677 sec | 774.97 kOp/s | 204.54  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
13_array_fill                  :    3.740 sec |  24.07 MOp/s |   6.35 kOps/MHz |     24 Mb
14_array_range                 :    2.007 sec |  74.74 kOp/s |  19.73  Ops/MHz |     24 Mb
14_array_unset                 :    2.833 sec |  31.77 MOp/s |   8.38 kOps/MHz |     24 Mb
15_clean_loops                 :    1.342 sec | 298.14 MOp/s |  78.69 kOps/MHz |      4 Mb
16_loop_ifelse                 :    1.992 sec |  50.20 MOp/s |  13.25 kOps/MHz |      4 Mb
17_loop_ternary                :    3.057 sec |  32.71 MOp/s |   8.63 kOps/MHz |      4 Mb
18_1_loop_defined_access       :    1.017 sec |  49.15 MOp/s |  12.97 kOps/MHz |      4 Mb
18_2_loop_undefined_access     :    4.729 sec |  10.57 MOp/s |   2.79 kOps/MHz |      4 Mb
19_type_functions              :    1.152 sec |   3.47 MOp/s | 916.65  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
20_type_casting                :    1.178 sec |   3.39 MOp/s | 895.86  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
21_0_loop_exception_none       :    0.204 sec |  48.94 MOp/s |  12.92 kOps/MHz |      4 Mb
21_1_loop_exception_try        :    0.212 sec |  47.21 MOp/s |  12.46 kOps/MHz |      4 Mb
21_2_loop_exception_catch      :    3.214 sec |   3.11 MOp/s | 821.23  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
22_loop_null_op                :    1.266 sec |  47.41 MOp/s |  12.51 kOps/MHz |      4 Mb
23_loop_spaceship_op           :    1.202 sec |  49.93 MOp/s |  13.18 kOps/MHz |      4 Mb
26_1_class_public_properties   :    0.133 sec |  75.10 MOp/s |  19.82 kOps/MHz |      4 Mb
26_2_class_getter_setter       :    0.425 sec |  23.54 MOp/s |   6.21 kOps/MHz |      4 Mb
26_3_class_magic_methods       :    1.189 sec |   8.41 MOp/s |   2.22 kOps/MHz |      4 Mb
27_simplexml                   :    4.121 sec |  12.13 kOp/s |   3.20  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
28_domxml                      :    4.228 sec |  11.83 kOp/s |   3.12  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
29_datetime                    :    0.571 sec | 875.87 kOp/s | 231.17  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
30_intl_number_format          :    0.826 sec |  24.22 kOp/s |   6.39  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
31_intl_message_format         :    4.236 sec |  47.22 kOp/s |  12.46  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
32_intl_calendar               :    0.844 sec | 355.34 kOp/s |  93.79  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
33_phpinfo_generate            :    1.440 sec |   6.95 kOp/s |   1.83  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
34_gd_qrcode                   :    0.923 sec |   1.08 kOp/s |   0.30  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
35_imagick_qrcode              :    2.839 sec | 352.18  Op/s |   0.10  Ops/MHz |      4 Mb
36_brotli_compress             :    5.012 sec | 199.50 kOp/s |  51.47  Ops/MHz |      3 Mb
36_bzip2_compress              :   22.065 sec |  22.66 kOp/s |   5.85  Ops/MHz |      3 Mb
36_gzip_compress               :   52.977 sec |  94.38 kOp/s |  24.35  Ops/MHz |      3 Mb
36_lz4_compress                :    0.378 sec |   1.32 MOp/s | 341.52  Ops/MHz |      3 Mb
36_zlib_compress               :   51.905 sec |  96.33 kOp/s |  24.85  Ops/MHz |      3 Mb
36_zstd_compress               :   27.937 sec | 178.98 kOp/s |  46.17  Ops/MHz |      3 Mb
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total time:                    :   81.337 sec |  13.73 MOp/s |   3.62 kOps/MHz |
Current PHP memory usage:      :        4 Mb
Peak PHP memory usage:         :    86.58 Mb

JSON-format

Command: php74 -derror_log= -dxdebug.mode=off bench.php -T 01_math -T 33_phpinfo_generate -J

{ 
"php_benchmark_script": "1.0.51",
"start": "2022-05-03 22:11:19",
"server": "Linux/5.4.0-104-lowlatency x86_64",
"system": "Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS",
"php_version": "7.4.29-SergeyD/6.1",
"results": {
  "columns": [ "test_name", "seconds", "op\/sec", "op\/sec\/MHz", "memory" ],
  "rows": [
    [ "01_math", 3.4119508266449, 586174.91916397, 162.82636643444, 4194304 ],
    [ "33_phpinfo_generate", 3.6402199268341, 2747.0867697538, 0.76307965826494, 4194304 ],
    null
  ]
},
"total": { "seconds": 7.052170753479, "op\/sec":285018.62338039, "op\/sec\/MHz":79.171839827885 },
"messages_count": 0,
"end":true
}

Machine-parsable format

Command: php74 -derror_log= -dxdebug.mode=off bench.php -T 01_math -T 33_phpinfo_generate -M

PHP_BENCHMARK_SCRIPT: 1.0.51
START: 2022-05-03 22:11:52
SERVER: Linux/5.4.0-104-lowlatency x86_64
SYSTEM: Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS
PHP_VERSION: 7.4.29-SergeyD/6.1
TEST_NAME: SECONDS, OP/SEC, OP/SEC/MHz, MEMORY
01_math: 3.3808300495148, 591570.70030392, 164.32519452887, 4194304
33_phpinfo_generate: 3.6759581565857, 2720.3791702809, 0.75566088063359, 4194304
TOTAL: 7.0567882061005, 284832.12777484, 79.120035493011

In web-browser

Link like: http://sergey.home.lan/bench/bench.php?system_info=1

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README.en.md

README.en.md

A simple PHP script to test speed

Dependencies

Modules affecting test results

Startup

0. Files

1. Through the console

Extras (Utilities in Linux)

2. Through web servers (apache + php)

Accounting for hosting options

Other platforms

Example script output

Generic format

JSON-format

Machine-parsable format

In web-browser

Files

README.en.md

Latest commit

History

README.en.md

File metadata and controls

A simple PHP script to test speed

Dependencies

Modules affecting test results

Startup

0. Files

1. Through the console

Extras (Utilities in Linux)

2. Through web servers (apache + php)

Accounting for hosting options

Other platforms

Example script output

Generic format

JSON-format

Machine-parsable format

In web-browser