Both <>, i.e. StringJoin and ~~, i.e. StringExpression, can be used to join two strings. I know that only the latter can be used to describe a string pattern (instead of joining actual strings). Are there other situations when only <> is appropriate? Or can I always use ~~?
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1 Answer
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3 In my opinion, if you want to join strings, the choice between <> and ~~ is clear: StringJoin is explicitly intended to join strings. StringExpression is not, it just happens to do so in many contexts in the current version, as it facilitates pattern matching.
The documentation makes no promise that StringExpression should work for the purpose of joining strings, so why would want to use it for that at all, especially when there is a different operator which is specifically for joining strings? I think that even if StringExpression always joins strings in the current version (I am not aware of cases when it doesn't), Wolfram would be completely justified in changing this behaviour in the future if it helps improve string pattern matching.
So, to sum up:
When should I use
<>instead of~~to join two strings?
Always. Use functions for their intended purpose, not for things that they happen to do by accident, but give no guarantees for.
Differences in the current behaviour of StringJoin and StingExpression:
As @ciao points out in a comment, StringJoin works on (nested) lists of strings, while StringExpression does not.
He also mentions that StringJoin may be faster, so I did a quick benchmark. I could not find any speed difference between the two, but the fact that StingJoin can be used on lists does give it a practical performance advantage, as one can avoid the overhead from Apply.
SeedRandom[12345]; list = RandomWord[1000000]; Table[StringJoin[list]; // RepeatedTiming // First, 5] (* {0.0266891, 0.0262008, 0.0269283, 0.0270262, 0.0266054} *) Table[StringJoin @@ list; // RepeatedTiming // First, 5] (* {0.0451839, 0.0451968, 0.045871, 0.0447449, 0.0457315} *) Table[StringExpression @@ list; // RepeatedTiming // First, 5] (* {0.0454046, 0.0450875, 0.0447029, 0.0453249, 0.0450471} *) 
- 1$\begingroup$ Also you can count on
StringJoinissuing a message when given a non-string. $\endgroup$Jason B.– Jason B.2021-06-22 10:59:23 +00:00Commented Jun 22, 2021 at 10:59 - $\begingroup$ A comment for people participating in Wolfram Challenges: To get the lowest code characters score, you have to use
~~instead of<>, because theInputForm(which is what the scoring system measures) of~~is just~~, while<>gets converted toStringJoin[...]. $\endgroup$Domen– Domen2024-03-11 10:26:37 +00:00Commented Mar 11, 2024 at 10:26 - $\begingroup$ @Domen Worth a separate answer? $\endgroup$Szabolcs– Szabolcs2024-03-11 15:59:27 +00:00Commented Mar 11, 2024 at 15:59
StringJoinignores list structure, so it's a bit more convenient if patterns are not involved, IMO. It's also a bit faster. $\endgroup$