Finding the number of digits of an integer

Question

What is the best method to find the number of digits of a positive integer?

I have found this 3 basic methods:

• conversion to string

Answer 1

Here is the measurement in Swift 4.

Algorithms code:

extension Int {
    var numberOfDigits0: Int {
        var currentNumber = self
        var n = 1
        if (currentNumber >= 100000000) {
            n += 8
            currentNumber /= 100000000
        }
        if (currentNumber >= 10000) {
            n += 4
            currentNumber /= 10000
        }
        if (currentNumber >= 100) {
            n += 2
            currentNumber /= 100
        }
        if (currentNumber >= 10) {
            n += 1
        }
        return n
    }

    var numberOfDigits1: Int {
        return String(self).count
    }

    var numberOfDigits2: Int {
        var n = 1
        var currentNumber = self
        while currentNumber > 9 {
            n += 1
            currentNumber /= 10
        }
        return n
    }

}

Measurement code:

var timeInterval0 = Date()
for i in 0...10000 {
    i.numberOfDigits0
}
print("timeInterval0: \(Date().timeIntervalSince(timeInterval0))")

var timeInterval1 = Date()
for i in 0...10000 {
    i.numberOfDigits1
}
print("timeInterval1: \(Date().timeIntervalSince(timeInterval1))")

var timeInterval2 = Date()
for i in 0...10000 {
    i.numberOfDigits2
}
print("timeInterval2: \(Date().timeIntervalSince(timeInterval2))")

Output

timeInterval0: 1.92149806022644

timeInterval1: 0.557608008384705

timeInterval2: 2.83262193202972

On this measurement basis String conversion is the best option for the Swift language.