[python] Creating a timer in python

import time
def timer():
   now = time.localtime(time.time())
   return now[5]


run = raw_input("Start? > ")
while run == "start":
   minutes = 0
   current_sec = timer()
   #print current_sec
   if current_sec == 59:
      mins = minutes + 1
      print ">>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>", mins

I was actually looking for a timer myself and your code seems to work, the probable reason for your minutes not being counted is that when you say that

minutes = 0

and then

mins = minutes + 1

it is the same as saying

mins = 0 + 1

I'm betting that every time you print mins it shows you "1" because of what i just explained, "0+1" will always result in "1".

What you have to do first is place your

minutes = 0

declaration outside of your while loop. After that you can delete the

mins = minutes + 1

line because you don't really need another variable in this case, just replace it with

minutes = minutes + 1

That way minutes will start off with a value of "0", receive the new value of "0+1", receive the new value of "1+1", receive the new value of "2+1", etc.

I realize that a lot of people answered it already but i thought it would help out more, learning wise, if you could see where you made a mistake and try to fix it.Hope it helped. Also, thanks for the timer.