diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index 0b4d6cf632..271d733623 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -5145,6 +5145,7 @@ tests/bench/shootout/src/strcat.pp svneol=native#text/plain
 tests/bench/shootout/src/sumcol.pp svneol=native#text/plain
 tests/bench/shootout/src/takfp.pp svneol=native#text/plain
 tests/bench/shootout/src/wc.pp svneol=native#text/plain
+tests/bench/shortbench.pp svneol=native#text/plain
 tests/bench/timer.pas svneol=native#text/plain
 tests/bench/whet.pas svneol=native#text/plain
 tests/dbdigest.cfg.example -text
diff --git a/tests/bench/shortbench.pp b/tests/bench/shortbench.pp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..54c7e164b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/bench/shortbench.pp
@@ -0,0 +1,159 @@
+program TestShortStr;
+uses timer;
+
+const
+  TestSize=1000; {Use at least 10 for reasonable results}
+type
+  BenType=array[1..8] of longint;
+var
+  Total      : longint;
+  headBen,
+  LoadBen,
+  ConcatBen,
+  DelBen,
+  InsBen,
+  CopyBen,
+  CmpBen,
+  MixBen     : BenType;
+
+procedure TestSpeed(Row,Len:byte);
+var
+  l      : longint;
+  hstr,
+  OrgStr : shortstring;
+begin
+  HeadBen[Row]:=Len;
+  OrgStr:='';
+  while Length(OrgStr)<Len do
+   OrgStr:=OrgStr+'aaaaaaaaaa';
+  OrgStr:=Copy(OrgStr,1,Len);
+  OrgStr[Len]:='b';
+{Load/Store}
+  Start;
+  for l:=1to 5000*TestSize do
+   HSTr:=OrgStr;
+  Stop;
+  inc(Total,MSec);
+  LoadBen[Row]:=MSec;
+{Concat}
+  Start;
+  for l:=1to 2000*TestSize do
+   begin
+     Hstr:='aaa';
+     Hstr:=Hstr+OrgStr;
+   end;
+  Stop;
+  inc(Total,MSec);
+  ConcatBen[Row]:=MSec;
+{Copy}
+  Start;
+  for l:=1to 2000*TestSize do
+   HSTr:=Copy(OrgStr,1,Len);
+  Stop;
+  inc(Total,MSec);
+  CopyBen[Row]:=MSec;
+{Delete}
+  Start;
+  for l:=1to 2000*TestSize do
+   begin
+     Hstr:=OrgStr;
+     Delete(HStr,1,9);
+   end;
+  Stop;
+  inc(Total,MSec);
+  DelBen[Row]:=MSec;
+{Insert}
+  Start;
+  for l:=1to 1000*TestSize do
+   begin
+     Hstr:='aaa';
+     Insert(OrgStr,hstr,2);
+     Hstr:=OrgStr;
+     Insert('aaaaaaaaaaaaa',hstr,9);
+   end;
+  Stop;
+  inc(Total,MSec);
+  InsBen[Row]:=MSec;
+{Compare}
+  Start;
+  Hstr:='aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa'+
+        'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa'+
+        'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa';
+  for l:=1to 5000*TestSize do
+   if OrgStr=Hstr then;
+  Stop;
+  inc(Total,MSec);
+  CmpBen[Row]:=MSec;
+{Mixed}
+  Start;
+  for l:=1 to 400*TestSize do
+   begin
+     hstr:=OrgStr;
+     hstr:=Copy(hstr,1,30);
+     Delete(hstr,5,40);
+     hstr:=Copy(hstr,1,length(hstr));
+     hstr:=hstr+'  ';
+     Delete(hstr,length(hstr)-2,2);
+     Insert('aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa',hstr,10);
+     Insert('aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa',hstr,20);
+     hstr:=Copy(hstr,1,length(hstr));
+     hstr:=Copy(hstr,1,80)+'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb';
+     hstr:=hstr+OrgStr;
+   end;
+  Stop;
+  inc(Total,MSec);
+  MixBen[Row]:=MSec;
+end;
+
+
+procedure PutBen(const r:BenType);
+var
+  i : byte;
+  rtot : cardinal;
+begin
+  rtot:=0;
+  for i:=1to 8 do
+    begin
+      inc(rtot,r[i]);
+      Write(r[i]:6);
+    end;
+  Write('':4);  
+  Write('avg=',rtot div 8);    
+  Writeln;
+end;
+
+
+
+begin
+  VerboseTimer:=false;
+  WriteLn ('Shortstring Speed Test');
+
+  WriteLn;
+  TestSpeed(1,10);
+  TestSpeed(2,30);
+  TestSpeed(3,50);
+  TestSpeed(4,70);
+  TestSpeed(5,100);
+  TestSpeed(6,150);
+  TestSpeed(7,200);
+  TestSpeed(8,250);
+
+  Write('Length      ');
+  PutBen(HeadBen);
+  WriteLn('------------------------------------------------------------------------------');
+  Write('Load/Store  ');
+  PutBen(LoadBen);
+  Write('Concat      ');
+  PutBen(ConcatBen);
+  Write('Copy        ');
+  PutBen(CopyBen);
+  Write('Delete      ');
+  PutBen(DelBen);
+  Write('Insert      ');
+  PutBen(InsBen);
+  Write('Compare     ');
+  PutBen(CmpBen);
+  Write('Mixed       ');
+  PutBen(MixBen);
+  WriteLn('Shortstring-Benchmark avarage ',Total div 8,' ms');
+end.
diff --git a/tests/bench/timer.pas b/tests/bench/timer.pas
index b4cdb71146..ec9965fed2 100644
--- a/tests/bench/timer.pas
+++ b/tests/bench/timer.pas
@@ -3,17 +3,21 @@ unit timer;
   interface
 
     uses
-       sysutils;
+       SysUtils;
 
+    var
+       verbosetimer : boolean = true;
+       
     procedure start;
     procedure stop;
+    function MSec:cardinal;
 
   implementation
 
     var
-       stime : longint;
+       stime,etime : cardinal;
 
-    function gt : longint;
+    function gt : cardinal;
 
       var
          h,m,s,s1000 : word;
@@ -36,11 +40,18 @@ unit timer;
     procedure stop;
 
       var
-         s : longint;
+         s : cardinal;
 
       begin
-         s:=gt-stime;
-         write(s div 1000,'.',s mod 1000,' Sekunden');
+         etime:=gt;
+         s:=etime-stime;
+	 if verbosetimer then
+           write(s div 1000,'.',s mod 1000,' Seconds');
      end;
 
+    function MSec:cardinal;
+      begin
+        Msec:=etime-stime;
+      end;
+      
 end.