Timing string tests

gistfile1.py

# Python 3
In [1]: from string import ascii_letters

In [2]: s = ascii_letters*1000 + 'ש' + ascii_letters*1000

In [3]: %timeit r1 = any("\u0590" <= c <= "\u05EA" for c in s)
100 loops, best of 3: 6.26 ms per loop

In [4]: chars = {chr(x) for x in range(0x590, 0x5EA + 1)}

In [5]: %timeit r2 = any(c in chars for c in s)    # Marcin's suggestion 1
100 loops, best of 3: 5.82 ms per loop

In [6]: import re

In [7]: hebrew_re = re.compile("[" + "".join(chars) + "]")

In [8]: %timeit r3 = hebrew_re.search(s)          # Marcin's suggestion 2
1000 loops, best of 3: 402 us per loop

In [15]: %timeit any(c in s for c in chars)       # Test for membership in the long string
100 loops, best of 3: 1.81 ms per loop