Feature: Low overhead case insensitive find

[e253]

Describe what you are looking for

The sz_tolower function requires copying to another buffer. Within find and find_byte routines a lowercasing step can be done quickly in a few extra cycles. I'm happy to add the feature, just gauging interest here.

For avx512

SZ_INTERNAL __m512i sz_lower_avx512(__m512i in)
{
    __m512i A = _mm512_set1_epi8('A');
    __m512i Z = _mm512_set1_epi8('Z');
    __m512i to_lower = _mm512_set1_epi8('a' - 'A');
    __mmask64 ge_A = _mm512_cmpge_epi8_mask(in, A);
    __mmask64 le_Z = _mm512_cmple_epi8_mask(in, Z);
    __mmask64 is_upper = _kand_mask64(ge_A, le_Z);
    return _mm512_mask_add_epi8(in, is_upper, in, to_lower);
}

SZ_PUBLIC sz_cptr_t sz_find_byte_case_insensitive_avx512(sz_cptr_t h, sz_size_t h_length, sz_cptr_t n)
{
    __mmask64 mask;
    sz_u512_vec_t h_vec, n_vec;
    /// PATCH!!!
    n_vec.zmm = _mm512_set1_epi8(sz_u8_tolower(n[0]));
    /// PATCH!!!

    while (h_length >= 64) {
        /// PATCH!!!
        h_vec.zmm = sz_lower_avx512(_mm512_loadu_si512(h));
        /// PATCH!!!
        mask = _mm512_cmpeq_epi8_mask(h_vec.zmm, n_vec.zmm);
        if (mask)
            return h + sz_u64_ctz(mask);
        h += 64, h_length -= 64;
    }

    if (h_length) {
        mask = _sz_u64_mask_until(h_length);
        /// PATCH!!!
        h_vec.zmm = sz_lower_avx512(_mm512_maskz_loadu_epi8(mask, h));
        /// PATCH!!!
        // Reuse the same `mask` variable to find the bit that doesn't match
        mask = _mm512_mask_cmpeq_epu8_mask(mask, h_vec.zmm, n_vec.zmm);
        if (mask)
            return h + sz_u64_ctz(mask);
    }

    return SZ_NULL_CHAR;
}

Can you contribute to the implementation?

• I can contribute

Is your feature request specific to a certain interface?

It applies to everything

Contact Details

ethansteere1@protonmail.com

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[ashvardanian]

I've considered this before, and it raises questions about the character set encodings. The suggested lowering function limits the applicability to ASCII content. There is probably a better way to future-proof the API for UTF8 as well. Feel free to open a PR, and I'll modify/integrate it down the road when we get to it.

[e253]

The internal function can branch to a fallback if non-ascii characters are present. The public call signature is the same as find / find_byte.

SZ_INTERNAL __m512i sz_lower_avx512(__m512i in)
{
   if (sz_is_ascii_avx512(in)) {
       __m512i A = _mm512_set1_epi8('A');
       __m512i Z = _mm512_set1_epi8('Z');
       __m512i to_lower = _mm512_set1_epi8('a' - 'A');
       __mmask64 ge_A = _mm512_cmpge_epi8_mask(in, A);
       __mmask64 le_Z = _mm512_cmple_epi8_mask(in, Z);
       __mmask64 is_upper = _kand_mask64(ge_A, le_Z);
       return _mm512_mask_add_epi8(in, is_upper, in, to_lower);
   } else {
      // UTF-8 fallback
   }
}