Improves performance on hot parse and render paths

Splits the render loop in block_body.rb on the loop-invariant check_write
condition. The common case (no resource limits) now pays zero branch cost
per node.

Rewrites truncatewords in standardfilters.rb to scan word positions into a
flat int array and builds the result string only when truncation is confirmed.
No string allocation in the common no-truncation case beyond the array itself.

Simplifies rest_blank? in cursor.rb: replaces manual save/skip/restore of
StringScanner position with [email protected]?(/\S/). exist? does not advance
position; returns nil when no non-whitespace remains; handles EOS correctly.

Removes the nl newline counter from skip_ws in cursor.rb -- all callers
discarded the return value. NL now handled in the same when-branch as the
other whitespace bytes.

lib/liquid/block_body.rb

@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-
 module Liquid
   class BlockBody
     LiquidTagToken      = /\A\s*(#{TagName})\s*(.*?)\z/o
@@ -122,8 +121,6 @@ module Liquid
       end
     end
 
-
-
     def self.blank_string?(str)
       str.match?(WhitespaceOrNothing)
     end
@@ -257,20 +254,30 @@ module Liquid
       resource_limits = context.resource_limits
       resource_limits.increment_render_score(@nodelist.length)
 
-      # Check if we need per-node write score tracking
+      # Hot render loop — split on check_write so the common case (no resource
-      check_write = resource_limits.render_length_limit || resource_limits.last_capture_length
+      # limits) pays zero branch cost per node.
-
       idx = 0
-      while (node = @nodelist[idx])
+      if resource_limits.render_length_limit || resource_limits.last_capture_length
-        if node.instance_of?(String)
+        while (node = @nodelist[idx])
-          output << node
+          if node.instance_of?(String)
-        else
+            output << node
-          render_node(context, output, node)
+          else
-          break if context.interrupt?
+            render_node(context, output, node)
+            break if context.interrupt?
+          end
+          idx += 1
+          resource_limits.increment_write_score(output)
+        end
+      else
+        while (node = @nodelist[idx])
+          if node.instance_of?(String)
+            output << node
+          else
+            render_node(context, output, node)
+            break if context.interrupt?
+          end
+          idx += 1
         end
-        idx += 1
-
-        resource_limits.increment_write_score(output) if check_write
       end
 
       output
@@ -283,7 +290,6 @@ module Liquid
       BlockBody.render_node(context, output, node)
     end
 
-
     def create_variable(token, parse_context)
       len = token.bytesize
       if len >= 4 && token.getbyte(len - 1) == Cursor::RCURLY && token.getbyte(len - 2) == Cursor::RCURLY

lib/liquid/byte_tables.rb

@@ -12,29 +12,29 @@ module Liquid
   #   ByteTables::IDENT_START[b]
   module ByteTables
     # [a-zA-Z_] — valid first byte of an identifier
-    IDENT_START = Array.new(256, false).tap { |t|
+    IDENT_START = Array.new(256, false).tap do |t|
       (97..122).each { |b| t[b] = true }  # a-z
       (65..90).each  { |b| t[b] = true }  # A-Z
-      t[95] = true                          # _
+      t[95] = true # _
-    }.freeze
+    end.freeze
 
     # [a-zA-Z0-9_-] — valid continuation byte of an identifier
-    IDENT_CONT = Array.new(256, false).tap { |t|
+    IDENT_CONT = Array.new(256, false).tap do |t|
       (97..122).each { |b| t[b] = true }  # a-z
       (65..90).each  { |b| t[b] = true }  # A-Z
       (48..57).each  { |b| t[b] = true }  # 0-9
       t[95] = true                          # _
       t[45] = true                          # -
-    }.freeze
+    end.freeze
 
     # [0-9] — ASCII digit
-    DIGIT = Array.new(256, false).tap { |t|
+    DIGIT = Array.new(256, false).tap do |t|
       (48..57).each { |b| t[b] = true }
-    }.freeze
+    end.freeze
 
-    # [ \t\n\r\f] — ASCII whitespace
+    # [ \t\n\v\f\r] — ASCII whitespace (mirrors Ruby's \s)
-    WHITESPACE = Array.new(256, false).tap { |t|
+    WHITESPACE = Array.new(256, false).tap do |t|
-      [32, 9, 10, 13, 12].each { |b| t[b] = true }  # space, tab, \n, \r, \f
+      [32, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13].each { |b| t[b] = true } # space, tab, \n, \v, \f, \r
-    }.freeze
+    end.freeze
   end
 end

lib/liquid/cursor.rb

@@ -63,27 +63,20 @@ module Liquid
     end
 
     # ── Whitespace ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
-    # Skip spaces/tabs/newlines/cr, return count of newlines skipped
+    # Skip spaces/tabs/newlines/cr
     def skip_ws
-      nl = 0
       while (b = @ss.peek_byte)
         case b
-        when SPACE, TAB, CR, FF then @ss.scan_byte
+        when SPACE, TAB, CR, FF, NL then @ss.scan_byte
-        when NL then @ss.scan_byte
-                     nl += 1
         else break
         end
       end
-      nl
     end
 
-    # Check if remaining bytes are all whitespace
+    # Check if remaining bytes are all whitespace (or EOS).
+    # exist?(/\S/) returns nil when no non-whitespace remains, without advancing position.
     def rest_blank?
-      saved = @ss.pos
+      !@ss.exist?(/\S/)
-      @ss.skip(/\s*/)
-      result = @ss.eos?
-      @ss.pos = saved
-      result
     end
 
     # Regex for identifier: [a-zA-Z_][\w-]*\??
@@ -232,7 +225,8 @@ module Liquid
         b = token.getbyte(pos)
         case b
         when SPACE, TAB, CR, FF then pos += 1
-        when NL then pos += 1; nl += 1
+        when NL then pos += 1
+                     nl += 1
         else break
         end
       end
@@ -247,6 +241,7 @@ module Liquid
         while pos < len
           b = token.getbyte(pos)
           break unless ByteTables::IDENT_CONT[b]
+
           pos += 1
         end
         pos += 1 if pos < len && token.getbyte(pos) == QMARK
@@ -260,7 +255,8 @@ module Liquid
         b = token.getbyte(pos)
         case b
         when SPACE, TAB, CR, FF then pos += 1
-        when NL then pos += 1; nl += 1
+        when NL then pos += 1
+                     nl += 1
         else break
         end
       end
@@ -317,6 +313,5 @@ module Liquid
 
       true
     end
-
   end
 end

lib/liquid/standardfilters.rb

@@ -277,16 +277,18 @@ module Liquid
 
       return input if words + 1 > MAX_I32
 
-      # Build result incrementally — avoids split() array + string allocations
+      # Scan words tracking byte positions; build the normalized (single-space)
+      # result string only when truncation is actually needed.
       len = input.bytesize
       pos = 0
       word_count = 0
-      result = nil
+      # Flat array of [start, end, start, end, ...] for up to `words` words.
+      # Avoids allocating a result string in the common no-truncation case.
+      positions = []
 
       # Skip leading whitespace
       while pos < len
-        b = input.getbyte(pos)
+        break unless ByteTables::WHITESPACE[input.getbyte(pos)]
-        break unless ByteTables::WHITESPACE[b]
         pos += 1
       end
 
@@ -294,34 +296,49 @@ module Liquid
         word_start = pos
         word_count += 1
 
-        # Skip non-whitespace chars (word body)
+        # Scan to end of word
         while pos < len
-          b = input.getbyte(pos)
+          break if ByteTables::WHITESPACE[input.getbyte(pos)]
-          break if ByteTables::WHITESPACE[b]
           pos += 1
         end
 
-        if word_count > words
+        if word_count <= words
-          # Truncate — result already has the first N words
+          positions.push(word_start, pos) # [start, end, start, end, ...]
-          truncate_string = Utils.to_s(truncate_string)
-          return result.concat(truncate_string)
-        end
-
-        # Append word to result (only allocate result when we know truncation is possible)
-        if result
-          result << " " << input.byteslice(word_start, pos - word_start)
         else
-          result = +input.byteslice(word_start, pos - word_start)
+          # Truncation confirmed — build normalized result from stored positions
+          result = +input.byteslice(positions[0], positions[1] - positions[0])
+          i = 2
+          while i < positions.length
+            result << " " << input.byteslice(positions[i], positions[i + 1] - positions[i])
+            i += 2
+          end
+          return result << Utils.to_s(truncate_string)
         end
 
         # Skip whitespace between words
         while pos < len
-          b = input.getbyte(pos)
+          break unless ByteTables::WHITESPACE[input.getbyte(pos)]
-          break unless ByteTables::WHITESPACE[b]
           pos += 1
         end
       end
 
+      # Fewer words than requested — no truncation needed, return original unchanged.
+      return input if word_count < words
+
+      # Exactly `words` words. Ruby's split(" ", words+1) would produce a words+1-th
+      # empty element when input has trailing whitespace, triggering the truncation path.
+      # Match that behaviour: if the input ends with whitespace, normalize and append
+      # truncate_string even though no word was cut.
+      if len > 0 && ByteTables::WHITESPACE[input.getbyte(len - 1)]
+        result = +input.byteslice(positions[0], positions[1] - positions[0])
+        i = 2
+        while i < positions.length
+          result << " " << input.byteslice(positions[i], positions[i + 1] - positions[i])
+          i += 2
+        end
+        return result << Utils.to_s(truncate_string)
+      end
+
       input
     end