benchmark

require 'benchmark'
n = 1000000
Benchmark.bm do |x|
  x.report {
    for i in 1..n;
      a = "1";
    end
  }
  x.report {
    n.times do;
      a = "1";
    end
  }
  x.report {
    1.upto(n) do;
      a = "1";
    end
  }
end
#      user     system      total        real
#  0.480000   0.000000   0.480000 (  0.481000)
#  0.571000   0.000000   0.571000 (  0.581000)
#  0.581000   0.000000   0.581000 (  0.581000)