`Array(input).flatten` does not do the same thing as `[input].flatten`,
though:

```ruby
10:21:38 >> input = {a: :b}
=> {:a=>:b}
10:21:45 >> Array(input).flatten
=> [:a, :b]
10:21:54 >> [input].flatten
=> [{:a=>:b}]
```

On Fri, Aug 23, 2019 at 3:41 AM <hanmac@gmx.de> wrote:

> Issue #16119 has been updated by Hanmac (Hans Mackowiak).
>
>
> i see in your patch that you not only check for `Array` but for `to_ary`
> too, which is nice
>
>
> @shevegen :
>
> instead of `[input]` i would use `Array(input)` that doesn't create an
> extra array if input is already one
>
> ----------------------------------------
> Feature #16119: Optimize Array#flatten and flatten! for already flattened
> arrays
> https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/16119#change-80933
>
> * Author: dylants (Dylan Thacker-Smith)
> * Status: Open
> * Priority: Normal
> * Assignee:
> * Target version:
> ----------------------------------------
> ## Problem
>
> When doing an object profile from stackprof, I noticed object allocations
> being made from `Array#flatten!` which was unlike other in-place methods
> like `Array#uniq!` and `Array#compact!`.  In this case, I wanted to
> optimize for the array already being flattened and found that `ary.flatten!
> if ary.any?(Array)` was significantly faster.  The code confirmed my
> suspicion that `ary.flatten!` was almost equivalent to
> `ary.replace(ary.flatten)` in implementation. The object allocations I
> noticed were from a temporary result array, a stack array to handle nesting
> and a hash table to prevent infinite recursion, all of which can be avoided
> in the simple case of an already flattened array.
>
> ## Solution
>
> Iterate over the array to find the first nested array.  If no nested array
> is found, then `flatten!` just returns `nil` without creating additional
> objects and `flatten` returns a shared copy of the original array.  If a
> nested array is found, then it creates and initializes the temporary
> objects to resume with the existing algorithm for flattening the array.
>
> ## Benchmark
>
> ```ruby
> require 'benchmark'
>
> N = 100000
>
> def report(x, name)
>   x.report(name) do
>     N.times do
>       yield
>     end
>   end
> end
>
> arrays = {
>   small_flat_ary: 5.times.to_a,
>   large_flat_ary: 100.times.to_a,
>   small_pairs_ary: [[1, 2]] * 5,
>   large_pairs_ary: [[1, 2]] * 100,
> }
>
> Benchmark.bmbm do |x|
>   arrays.each do |name, ary|
>     report(x, "#{name}.flatten!") do
>       ary.flatten!
>     end
>     report(x, "#{name}.flatten") do
>       ary.flatten
>     end
>   end
> end
> ```
>
> results on the latest master (`ruby 2.7.0dev (2019-08-22T14:10:55Z master
> fd20b32130) [x86_64-darwin18]`)
>
> ```
>                                user     system      total        real
> small_flat_ary.flatten!    0.082001   0.000294   0.082295 (  0.082685)
> small_flat_ary.flatten     0.078655   0.000211   0.078866 (  0.079176)
> large_flat_ary.flatten!    0.552551   0.001643   0.554194 (  0.556166)
> large_flat_ary.flatten     0.551520   0.001327   0.552847 (  0.554091)
> small_pairs_ary.flatten!   0.100073   0.000302   0.100375 (  0.100687)
> small_pairs_ary.flatten    0.109440   0.000232   0.109672 (  0.109850)
> large_pairs_ary.flatten!   1.021200   0.001650   1.022850 (  1.024227)
> large_pairs_ary.flatten    1.049046   0.002938   1.051984 (  1.055228)
> ```
>
> results with the attached patch
>
> ```
>                                user     system      total        real
> small_flat_ary.flatten!    0.034868   0.000150   0.035018 (  0.035180)
> small_flat_ary.flatten     0.040504   0.000148   0.040652 (  0.040914)
> large_flat_ary.flatten!    0.458273   0.000786   0.459059 (  0.460005)
> large_flat_ary.flatten     0.453846   0.000833   0.454679 (  0.455324)
> small_pairs_ary.flatten!   0.055211   0.000205   0.055416 (  0.055673)
> small_pairs_ary.flatten    0.060157   0.000226   0.060383 (  0.060540)
> large_pairs_ary.flatten!   0.901698   0.001650   0.903348 (  0.905246)
> large_pairs_ary.flatten    0.917180   0.001370   0.918550 (  0.920008)
> ```
>
> ---Files--------------------------------
> 0001-Optimize-Array-flatten-and-flatten-for-already-fl.diff.txt (2.79 KB)
>
>
> --
> https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/
>
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>


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