Fastest way to determine if an integer is between two integers (inclusive) with known sets of values
Asked 07 September, 2021
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Votes

Is there a faster way than x >= start && x <= end in C or C++ to test if an integer is between two integers?

UPDATE: My specific platform is iOS. This is part of a box blur function that restricts pixels to a circle in a given square.

UPDATE: After trying the accepted answer, I got an order of magnitude speedup on the one line of code over doing it the normal x >= start && x <= end way.

UPDATE: Here is the after and before code with assembler from XCode:

NEW WAY

// diff = (end - start) + 1
#define POINT_IN_RANGE_AND_INCREMENT(p, range) ((p++ - range.start) < range.diff)

Ltmp1313:
 ldr    r0, [sp, #176] @ 4-byte Reload
 ldr    r1, [sp, #164] @ 4-byte Reload
 ldr    r0, [r0]
 ldr    r1, [r1]
 sub.w  r0, r9, r0
 cmp    r0, r1
 blo    LBB44_30

OLD WAY

#define POINT_IN_RANGE_AND_INCREMENT(p, range) (p <= range.end && p++ >= range.start)

Ltmp1301:
 ldr    r1, [sp, #172] @ 4-byte Reload
 ldr    r1, [r1]
 cmp    r0, r1
 bls    LBB44_32
 mov    r6, r0
 b      LBB44_33
LBB44_32:
 ldr    r1, [sp, #188] @ 4-byte Reload
 adds   r6, r0, #1
Ltmp1302:
 ldr    r1, [r1]
 cmp    r0, r1
 bhs    LBB44_36

Pretty amazing how reducing or eliminating branching can provide such a dramatic speed up.

7 Answer