I would like to measure time in C, and I am having a tough time figuring it out, all I want is something like this:
Any help would be appreciated.
(I am compiling in windows using mingw)
If your Linux system supports it, clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC) should be a high resolution timer that is unaffected by system date changes (e.g. NTP daemons).
Great answers for GNU environments above and below...
But... what if you're not running on an OS? (or a PC for that matter, or you need to time your timer interrupts themselves?) Here's a solution that uses the x86 CPU timestamp counter directly... Not because this is good practice, or should be done, ever, when running under an OS...
rdtsc.c:
#include <sys/time.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
typedef unsigned long long int64;
static __inline__ int64 getticks(void)
{
unsigned a, d;
asm volatile("rdtsc" : "=a" (a), "=d" (d));
return (((int64)a) | (((int64)d) << 32));
}
int main(){
int64 tick,tick1;
unsigned time=0,mt;
// mt is the divisor to give microseconds
FILE *pf;
int i,r,l,n=0;
char s[100];
// time how long it takes to get the divisors, as a test
tick = getticks();
// get the divisors - todo: for max performance this can
// output a new binary or library with these values hardcoded
// for the relevant CPU - if you use the equivalent assembler for
// that CPU
pf = fopen("/proc/cpuinfo","r");
do {
r=fscanf(pf,"%s",&s[0]);
if (r<0) {
n=5; break;
} else if (n==0) {
if (strcmp("MHz",s)==0) n=1;
} else if (n==1) {
if (strcmp(":",s)==0) n=2;
} else if (n==2) {
n=3;
};
} while (n<3);
fclose(pf);
s[9]=(char)0;
strcpy(&s[4],&s[5]);
mt=atoi(s);
printf("#define mt %u // (%s Hz) hardcode this for your a CPU-specific binary ;-)\n",mt,s);
tick1 = getticks();
time = (unsigned)((tick1-tick)/mt);
printf("%u ms\n",time);
// time the duration of sleep(1) - plus overheads ;-)
tick = getticks();
sleep(1);
tick1 = getticks();
time = (unsigned)((tick1-tick)/mt);
printf("%u ms\n",time);
return 0;
}
compile and run with
$ gcc rdtsc.c -o rdtsc && ./rdtsc
It reads the divisor for your CPU from /proc/cpuinfo and shows how long it took to read that in microseconds, as well as how long it takes to execute sleep(1) in microseconds... Assuming the Mhz rating in /proc/cpuinfo always contains 3 decimal places :-o
The following is a group of versatile C functions for timer management based on the gettimeofday() system call. All the timer properties are contained in a single ticktimer struct - the interval you want, the total running time since the timer initialization, a pointer to the desired callback you want to call, the number of times the callback was called. A callback function would look like this:
void your_timer_cb (struct ticktimer *t) {
/* do your stuff here */
}
To initialize and start a timer, call ticktimer_init(your_timer, interval, TICKTIMER_RUN, your_timer_cb, 0).
In the main loop of your program call ticktimer_tick(your_timer) and it will decide whether the appropriate amount of time has passed to invoke the callback.
To stop a timer, just call ticktimer_ctl(your_timer, TICKTIMER_STOP).
ticktimer.h:
#ifndef __TICKTIMER_H
#define __TICKTIMER_H
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/time.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#define TICKTIMER_STOP 0x00
#define TICKTIMER_UNCOMPENSATE 0x00
#define TICKTIMER_RUN 0x01
#define TICKTIMER_COMPENSATE 0x02
struct ticktimer {
u_int64_t tm_tick_interval;
u_int64_t tm_last_ticked;
u_int64_t tm_total;
unsigned ticks_total;
void (*tick)(struct ticktimer *);
unsigned char flags;
int id;
};
void ticktimer_init (struct ticktimer *, u_int64_t, unsigned char, void (*)(struct ticktimer *), int);
unsigned ticktimer_tick (struct ticktimer *);
void ticktimer_ctl (struct ticktimer *, unsigned char);
struct ticktimer *ticktimer_alloc (void);
void ticktimer_free (struct ticktimer *);
void ticktimer_tick_all (void);
#endif
ticktimer.c:
#include "ticktimer.h"
#define TIMER_COUNT 100
static struct ticktimer timers[TIMER_COUNT];
static struct timeval tm;
/*!
@brief
Initializes/sets the ticktimer struct.
@param timer
Pointer to ticktimer struct.
@param interval
Ticking interval in microseconds.
@param flags
Flag bitmask. Use TICKTIMER_RUN | TICKTIMER_COMPENSATE
to start a compensating timer; TICKTIMER_RUN to start
a normal uncompensating timer.
@param tick
Ticking callback function.
@param id
Timer ID. Useful if you want to distinguish different
timers within the same callback function.
*/
void ticktimer_init (struct ticktimer *timer, u_int64_t interval, unsigned char flags, void (*tick)(struct ticktimer *), int id) {
gettimeofday(&tm, NULL);
timer->tm_tick_interval = interval;
timer->tm_last_ticked = tm.tv_sec * 1000000 + tm.tv_usec;
timer->tm_total = 0;
timer->ticks_total = 0;
timer->tick = tick;
timer->flags = flags;
timer->id = id;
}
/*!
@brief
Checks the status of a ticktimer and performs a tick(s) if
necessary.
@param timer
Pointer to ticktimer struct.
@return
The number of times the timer was ticked.
*/
unsigned ticktimer_tick (struct ticktimer *timer) {
register typeof(timer->tm_tick_interval) now;
register typeof(timer->ticks_total) nticks, i;
if (timer->flags & TICKTIMER_RUN) {
gettimeofday(&tm, NULL);
now = tm.tv_sec * 1000000 + tm.tv_usec;
if (now >= timer->tm_last_ticked + timer->tm_tick_interval) {
timer->tm_total += now - timer->tm_last_ticked;
if (timer->flags & TICKTIMER_COMPENSATE) {
nticks = (now - timer->tm_last_ticked) / timer->tm_tick_interval;
timer->tm_last_ticked = now - ((now - timer->tm_last_ticked) % timer->tm_tick_interval);
for (i = 0; i < nticks; i++) {
timer->tick(timer);
timer->ticks_total++;
if (timer->tick == NULL) {
break;
}
}
return nticks;
} else {
timer->tm_last_ticked = now;
timer->tick(timer);
timer->ticks_total++;
return 1;
}
}
}
return 0;
}
/*!
@brief
Controls the behaviour of a ticktimer.
@param timer
Pointer to ticktimer struct.
@param flags
Flag bitmask.
*/
inline void ticktimer_ctl (struct ticktimer *timer, unsigned char flags) {
timer->flags = flags;
}
/*!
@brief
Allocates a ticktimer struct from an internal
statically allocated list.
@return
Pointer to the newly allocated ticktimer struct
or NULL when no more space is available.
*/
struct ticktimer *ticktimer_alloc (void) {
register int i;
for (i = 0; i < TIMER_COUNT; i++) {
if (timers[i].tick == NULL) {
return timers + i;
}
}
return NULL;
}
/*!
@brief
Marks a previously allocated ticktimer struct as free.
@param timer
Pointer to ticktimer struct, usually returned by
ticktimer_alloc().
*/
inline void ticktimer_free (struct ticktimer *timer) {
timer->tick = NULL;
}
/*!
@brief
Checks the status of all allocated timers from the
internal list and performs ticks where necessary.
@note
Should be called in the main loop.
*/
inline void ticktimer_tick_all (void) {
register int i;
for (i = 0; i < TIMER_COUNT; i++) {
if (timers[i].tick != NULL) {
ticktimer_tick(timers + i);
}
}
}
Using the time.h library, try something like this:
long start_time, end_time, elapsed;
start_time = clock();
// Do something
end_time = clock();
elapsed = (end_time - start_time) / CLOCKS_PER_SEC * 1000;
Here's a header file I wrote to do some simple performance profiling (using manual timers):
#ifndef __ZENTIMER_H__
#define __ZENTIMER_H__
#ifdef ENABLE_ZENTIMER
#include <stdio.h>
#ifdef WIN32
#include <windows.h>
#else
#include <sys/time.h>
#endif
#ifdef HAVE_STDINT_H
#include <stdint.h>
#elif HAVE_INTTYPES_H
#include <inttypes.h>
#else
typedef unsigned char uint8_t;
typedef unsigned long int uint32_t;
typedef unsigned long long uint64_t;
#endif
#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#pragma }
#endif /* __cplusplus */
#define ZTIME_USEC_PER_SEC 1000000
/* ztime_t represents usec */
typedef uint64_t ztime_t;
#ifdef WIN32
static uint64_t ztimer_freq = 0;
#endif
static void
ztime (ztime_t *ztimep)
{
#ifdef WIN32
QueryPerformanceCounter ((LARGE_INTEGER *) ztimep);
#else
struct timeval tv;
gettimeofday (&tv, NULL);
*ztimep = ((uint64_t) tv.tv_sec * ZTIME_USEC_PER_SEC) + tv.tv_usec;
#endif
}
enum {
ZTIMER_INACTIVE = 0,
ZTIMER_ACTIVE = (1 << 0),
ZTIMER_PAUSED = (1 << 1),
};
typedef struct {
ztime_t start;
ztime_t stop;
int state;
} ztimer_t;
#define ZTIMER_INITIALIZER { 0, 0, 0 }
/* default timer */
static ztimer_t __ztimer = ZTIMER_INITIALIZER;
static void
ZenTimerStart (ztimer_t *ztimer)
{
ztimer = ztimer ? ztimer : &__ztimer;
ztimer->state = ZTIMER_ACTIVE;
ztime (&ztimer->start);
}
static void
ZenTimerStop (ztimer_t *ztimer)
{
ztimer = ztimer ? ztimer : &__ztimer;
ztime (&ztimer->stop);
ztimer->state = ZTIMER_INACTIVE;
}
static void
ZenTimerPause (ztimer_t *ztimer)
{
ztimer = ztimer ? ztimer : &__ztimer;
ztime (&ztimer->stop);
ztimer->state |= ZTIMER_PAUSED;
}
static void
ZenTimerResume (ztimer_t *ztimer)
{
ztime_t now, delta;
ztimer = ztimer ? ztimer : &__ztimer;
/* unpause */
ztimer->state &= ~ZTIMER_PAUSED;
ztime (&now);
/* calculate time since paused */
delta = now - ztimer->stop;
/* adjust start time to account for time elapsed since paused */
ztimer->start += delta;
}
static double
ZenTimerElapsed (ztimer_t *ztimer, uint64_t *usec)
{
#ifdef WIN32
static uint64_t freq = 0;
ztime_t delta, stop;
if (freq == 0)
QueryPerformanceFrequency ((LARGE_INTEGER *) &freq);
#else
#define freq ZTIME_USEC_PER_SEC
ztime_t delta, stop;
#endif
ztimer = ztimer ? ztimer : &__ztimer;
if (ztimer->state != ZTIMER_ACTIVE)
stop = ztimer->stop;
else
ztime (&stop);
delta = stop - ztimer->start;
if (usec != NULL)
*usec = (uint64_t) (delta * ((double) ZTIME_USEC_PER_SEC / (double) freq));
return (double) delta / (double) freq;
}
static void
ZenTimerReport (ztimer_t *ztimer, const char *oper)
{
fprintf (stderr, "ZenTimer: %s took %.6f seconds\n", oper, ZenTimerElapsed (ztimer, NULL));
}
#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif /* __cplusplus */
#else /* ! ENABLE_ZENTIMER */
#define ZenTimerStart(ztimerp)
#define ZenTimerStop(ztimerp)
#define ZenTimerPause(ztimerp)
#define ZenTimerResume(ztimerp)
#define ZenTimerElapsed(ztimerp, usec)
#define ZenTimerReport(ztimerp, oper)
#endif /* ENABLE_ZENTIMER */
#endif /* __ZENTIMER_H__ */
The ztime() function is the main logic you need — it gets the current time and stores it in a 64bit uint measured in microseconds. You can then later do simple math to find out the elapsed time.
The ZenTimer*() functions are just helper functions to take a pointer to a simple timer struct, ztimer_t, which records the start time and the end time. The ZenTimerPause()/ZenTimerResume() functions allow you to, well, pause and resume the timer in case you want to print out some debugging information that you don't want timed, for example.
You can find a copy of the original header file at http://www.gnome.org/~fejj/code/zentimer.h in the off chance that I messed up the html escaping of <'s or something. It's licensed under MIT/X11 so feel free to copy it into any project you do.
On Linux you can use clock_gettime():
clock_gettime(CLOCK_PROCESS_CPUTIME_ID, &start); // get initial time-stamp
// ... do stuff ... //
clock_gettime(CLOCK_PROCESS_CPUTIME_ID, &end); // get final time-stamp
double t_ns = (double)(end.tv_sec - start.tv_sec) * 1.0e9 +
(double)(end.tv_nsec - start.tv_nsec);
// subtract time-stamps and
// multiply to get elapsed
// time in ns
Source: Stackoverflow.com