PRB: REPLACE Command is Slow in Some Instances

MORE INFORMATION

If SET TALK is set to ON and 5000 records are added to a table with the APPEND BLANK command and a REPLACE command for each field, the time it would take on an average computer would be around 20 seconds. Adding the same amount of records using a single REPLACE command for all the fields would take a couple of seconds to complete. The reason that the individual REPLACE commands take so long is that each REPLACE is echoed to the screen. Using the INSERT command would be an even faster way to add data to the table.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

Run the following code to build the table and then time the REPLACE command.

SET TALK ON  &Change this to OFF for faster REPLACE's.
CREATE TABLE bigtable ;	
(Fld1 c(10), ;	
Fld2 c(10), ;	
Fld3 c(10), ;	
Fld4 c(10), ;
        Fld5 c(10), ;	
	Fld6 i, ;	
	Fld7 i, ;	
	Fld8 i, ;	
	Fld9 i, ;	
	Fld10 i)
	USE bigtable
	CLEAR
   beg_counter = SECONDS()
   FOR x = 1 TO 5000	
   APPEND BLANK
	REPLACE Fld1 WITH 'aaaaa' + ALLTRIM(STR(x))
	REPLACE Fld2 WITH 'bbbbb' + ALLTRIM(STR(x))
	REPLACE Fld3 WITH 'ccccc' + ALLTRIM(STR(x))
	REPLACE Fld4 WITH 'ddddd' + ALLTRIM(STR(x))
	REPLACE Fld5 WITH 'eeeee' + ALLTRIM(STR(x))
	REPLACE Fld6 WITH x
	REPLACE Fld7 WITH x	
	REPLACE Fld8 WITH x	
	REPLACE Fld9 WITH x
	REPLACE Fld10 WITH x
	ENDFOR
	counter = SECONDS() - beg_counter
? "Individual REPLACE commands took: " + ALLTRIM(STR(counter,4,2)) +"    seconds."

beg_counter = SECONDS()
 FOR x = 1 TO 5000	
  APPEND BLANK
	REPLACE Fld1 WITH 'aaaaa' + ALLTRIM(STR(x)), ;
	Fld2 WITH 'bbbbb' + ALLTRIM(STR(x)), ;	
	Fld3 WITH 'ccccc' + ALLTRIM(STR(x)), ;
	Fld4 WITH 'ddddd' + ALLTRIM(STR(x)), ;	
	Fld5 WITH 'eeeee' + ALLTRIM(STR(x)), ;
	Fld6 WITH x, ;	
	Fld7 WITH x, ;	
	Fld8 WITH x, ;	
	Fld9 WITH x, ;	
	Fld10 WITH x
		
 ENDFOR
   counter = SECONDS() - beg_counter
   ? "One REPLACE command: " + ALLTRIM(STR(counter,4,2)) + " seconds."
   beg_counter = SECONDS()
   FOR x = 1 TO 5000
	INSERT INTO bigtable (Fld1, Fld2, Fld3, ;
                              Fld4, Fld5, Fld6, ;
                              Fld7, Fld8, Fld9, ;
                              Fld10) VALUES ('aaaaa' + ;
                              ALLTRIM(STR(x)), 'bbbbb' + ;
                              ALLTRIM(STR(x)), 'ccccc' + ;
                              ALLTRIM(STR(x)), 'ddddd' + ;
                              ALLTRIM(STR(x)), 'eeeee' + ;
                              ALLTRIM(STR(x)), x, x, x, x, x)
   ENDFOR
   counter = SECONDS() - beg_counter
   ? "The INSERT command: " + ALLTRIM(STR(counter,4,2)) + " seconds."