tr.rb

require 'benchmark'

TIMES = 1_000_000
string = ' some weird  string  with       spaces in it   '

Benchmark.bmbm do |x|
  x.report("gsub + regexp") do
    TIMES.times do |t|
      string.gsub(/\s+/,'-')
    end
  end

  x.report("gsub + string") do
    TIMES.times do |t|
      string.gsub(' ', '-')
    end
  end

  x.report("tr") do
    TIMES.times do |t|
      string.tr(' ','-')
    end
  end
end

# Rehearsal -------------------------------------------------
# gsub + regexp  16.490000   0.020000  16.510000 ( 16.487952)
# gsub + string  28.230000   0.020000  28.250000 ( 28.233503)
# tr              2.760000   0.000000   2.760000 (  2.766509)
# --------------------------------------- total: 47.520000sec

#                     user     system      total        real
# gsub + regexp  16.730000   0.010000  16.740000 ( 16.737064)
# gsub + string  31.570000   0.050000  31.620000 ( 32.219622)
# tr              2.990000   0.010000   3.000000 (  2.994367)