Why is array_key_exists 1000x slower than isset on referenced arrays?

Question

I have found that array_key_exists is over 1000x slower than isset at check if a key is set in an array reference. Does anyone that has an understa

Answer 1

Here is the source of the array_key_exists function for 5.2.17. You can see that even if the key is null, PHP attempts to compute a hash. Although it's interesting that if you remove

// $my_array_ref[$i] = NULL;

then it performs better. There must be multiple hash lookups occuring.

/* {{{ proto bool array_key_exists(mixed key, array search)
   Checks if the given key or index exists in the array */
PHP_FUNCTION(array_key_exists)
{
    zval **key,                 /* key to check for */
         **array;               /* array to check in */

    if (ZEND_NUM_ARGS() != 2 ||
        zend_get_parameters_ex(ZEND_NUM_ARGS(), &key, &array) == FAILURE) {
        WRONG_PARAM_COUNT;
    }

    if (Z_TYPE_PP(array) != IS_ARRAY && Z_TYPE_PP(array) != IS_OBJECT) {
        php_error_docref(NULL TSRMLS_CC, E_WARNING, "The second argument should be either an array or an object");
        RETURN_FALSE;
    }

    switch (Z_TYPE_PP(key)) {
        case IS_STRING:
            if (zend_symtable_exists(HASH_OF(*array), Z_STRVAL_PP(key), Z_STRLEN_PP(key)+1)) {
                RETURN_TRUE;
            }
            RETURN_FALSE;
        case IS_LONG:
            if (zend_hash_index_exists(HASH_OF(*array), Z_LVAL_PP(key))) {
                RETURN_TRUE;
            }
            RETURN_FALSE;
        case IS_NULL:
            if (zend_hash_exists(HASH_OF(*array), "", 1)) {
                RETURN_TRUE;
            }
            RETURN_FALSE;

        default:
            php_error_docref(NULL TSRMLS_CC, E_WARNING, "The first argument should be either a string or an integer");
            RETURN_FALSE;
    }

}