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Asked: 2026-05-26T15:46:48+00:00

Background I am using the UTF8-CPP class. The vast majority of my strings are

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Background

I am using the UTF8-CPP class. The vast majority of my strings are using the ASCII character set (0-127). The problem with UTF8-based strings is that the index function (i.e. to retrieve a character a specific position) is slow.

Idea

A simple technique is to use a flag as a property which basically says if the string is pure ASCII or note (isAscii). This flag would be updated whenever the string is modified.

This solution seems too simple, and there may be things I am overlooking. But, if this solution is viable, does it not provide the best of both worlds (i.e. Unicode when needed and performance for the vast majority of cases), and would it not gaurantee O(1) for index loopkups?

UPDATE

I’m going to attach a diagram to clarify what I mean. I think a lot of people are misunderstanding what I mean (or I am misunderstanding basic concepts).
All good replies.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    I think the point here is that while your vast majority of strings is ASCII, in general, the designer of an UTF-8 library should expect general UTF-8 strings. And there, checking and setting this flag is an unnecessary overhead.

    In your case, it might be worth the effort to wrap or modify the UTF8 class accordingly. But before you do that, ask your favorite profiler if it’s worth it.

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