PHP的范围（'A'，'Z'）是否返回静态数组？

Question

I was overlooking some code that I had written to generate an A-Z navigation on a product page, and the method in which it was done was a for loop; using ascii octals 65-91 and PHP's chr() function. I wondered if there was a simpler and/or more efficient way of doing this, and I discovered that PHP's range() function supports alphabetical ranges.

After I wrote my test code to compare the different methods, a few questions came to mind:

1. Does PHP store a static array of the alphabet?
2. How can I profile more deeply to look below the PHP layer to see what's happening?

I have a cachegrind of the PHP script that can be attached if necessary, in addition to environment config. For those who might want to know the machine specs in which it was executed, here are some links:

root@workbox:~$ lshw http://pastebin.com/cZZRjJcR

root@workbox:~$ sysinfo http://pastebin.com/ihQkkPAJ

<?php
/*
 * determine which method out of 3 for returning
 * an array of uppercase alphabetic characters 
 * has the highest performance
 * 
 * +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 * 
 * 1) Array $alpha = for($x = 65; $x < 91; $x++) { $upperChr[] = chr($x); }
 * 2) Array $alpha = range(chr(65), chr(90);
 * 3) Array $alpha = range('A', 'Z');
 * 
 * +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 * 
 * test runs with iterations:
 * 
 * 10,000:
 * - 1) upperChrElapsed: 0.453785s
 * - 2) upperRangeChrElapsed: 0.069262s
 * - 3) upperRangeAZElapsed: 0.046110s
 * 
 * 100,000:
 * - 1) upperChrElapsed: 0.729015s
 * - 2) upperRangeChrElapsed: 0.078652s
 * - 3) upperRangeAZElapsed: 0.052071s
 * 
 * 1,000,000:
 * - 1) upperChrElapsed: 50.942950s
 * - 2) upperRangeChrElapsed: 10.091785s
 * - 3) upperRangeAZElapsed: 8.073058s
 */

ini_set('max_execution_time', 0);
ini_set('memory_limit', 0);

define('ITERATIONS', 1000000); // 1m loops x3

$upperChrStart = microtime(true);
for($i = 0; $i <= ITERATIONS; $i++) {
    $upperChr = array();
    for($x = 65; $x < 91; $x++) {
            $upperChr[] = chr($x);
    }
}
$upperChrElapsed = microtime(true) - $upperChrStart;

// +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

$upperRangeChrStart = microtime(true);
for($i = 0; $i <= ITERATIONS; $i++) {
    $upperRangeChr = range(chr(65), chr(90));   
}
$upperRangeChrElapsed = microtime(true) - $upperRangeChrStart;

// +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

$upperRangeAZStart = microtime(true);
for($i = 0; $i <= ITERATIONS; $i++) {
    $upperRangeAZ = range('A', 'Z');    
}
$upperRangeAZElapsed = microtime(true) - $upperRangeAZStart;

printf("upperChrElapsed: %f
", $upperChrElapsed);
printf("upperRangeChrElapsed: %f
", $upperRangeChrElapsed);
printf("upperRangeAZElapsed: %f
", $upperRangeAZElapsed);

?>