Thanks for the code. Have you measured the impact of your proposed change?
Sorry I have not done that. Checking STRCACHE_M it seems it is set to 2. I guess move-to-front gives little to no advantage in this case.
A difference/improvement can perhaps be measured by setting STRCACHE_M to higher values - but I am unable to suggest any values.
I assume the choice to have STRCACHE_M=2 and STRCACHE_N=53 is based on measurements and feedback from many sources.
Andrea