Robel Tech 🚀

How can I calculate time elapsed in a Bash script

February 20, 2025

đź“‚ Categories: Bash
🏷 Tags: Date
How can I calculate time elapsed in a Bash script

Timing is every thing, particularly successful scripting. Understanding however agelong a Bash book takes to execute is important for optimization, debugging, and show monitoring. Whether or not you’re a seasoned sysadmin oregon conscionable beginning with ammunition scripting, precisely calculating elapsed clip tin supply invaluable insights into your codification’s ratio. This station volition research assorted strategies to measurement execution clip successful Bash, from elemental constructed-successful instructions to much precocious strategies, serving to you addition a deeper knowing of your book’s show.

Utilizing the clip bid

The easiest manner to measurement the elapsed clip of a Bash book is utilizing the constructed-successful clip bid. Prefixing your book execution with clip offers a abstract of the existent, person, and scheme clip upon completion. Existent clip represents the existent timepiece clip that has handed, person clip refers to the CPU clip spent executing the book’s codification, and scheme clip signifies the CPU clip spent connected scheme calls. This bid gives a speedy overview, perfect for basal timing wants.

For illustration, to clip the execution of a book named my_script.sh, you would usage clip ./my_script.sh. This volition output the clip statistic to modular mistake last the book finishes. Piece elemental, the clip bid doesn’t let for storing the elapsed clip successful a adaptable, limiting its usage successful much analyzable situations.

Calculating Elapsed Clip with the day bid

For better power and the quality to manipulate the clip values inside your book, the day bid affords a much versatile attack. By capturing the commencement and extremity instances utilizing the day +%s format (which outputs seconds since the Unix epoch), you tin cipher the quality to find the elapsed clip successful seconds. This technique permits you to shop the consequence successful a adaptable for additional processing oregon logging.

Present’s an illustration:

commencement=$(day +%s) Your book instructions present extremity=$(day +%s) elapsed=$((extremity - commencement)) echo "Elapsed clip: $elapsed seconds" 

This attack provides you the flexibility to format the output, execute calculations, and combine the timing accusation seamlessly into your book’s logic.

Precision Timing with /usr/bin/clip

Piece the constructed-successful clip bid is handy, /usr/bin/clip (GNU clip) gives much exact measurements and formatting choices. This bid gives better granularity and power complete the output format, making it appropriate for benchmarking and show investigation. It tin beryllium peculiarly utile for figuring out bottlenecks successful agelong-moving scripts.

Utilizing /usr/bin/clip -f "%e" ./my_script.sh volition output lone the elapsed existent clip successful seconds, permitting casual parsing and additional processing. The -f action permits customizing the output format to show circumstantial clip metrics in accordance to your wants. Larn much astir Bash scripting.

Measuring Clip successful Milliseconds

For duties requiring millisecond precision, the day bid mixed with floating-component arithmetic tin beryllium utilized. Piece Bash itself doesn’t straight activity floating-component arithmetic, you tin leverage outer instruments similar bc oregon awk for this intent.

commencement=$(day +%s%N) Your book instructions present extremity=$(day +%s%N) elapsed=$(awk "Statesman {printf \"%.3f\", ($extremity - $commencement) / one thousand million}") echo "Elapsed clip: $elapsed seconds" 

This illustration makes use of day +%s%N to acquire nanosecond precision and awk to cipher the quality and person it to seconds with millisecond accuracy.

  • Usage clip for speedy checks.
  • day gives much flexibility.
  1. Acquire commencement clip.
  2. Tally your book.
  3. Acquire extremity clip.
  4. Cipher the quality.

“Untimely optimization is the base of each evil.” - Donald Knuth

[Infographic placeholder: Illustrating antithetic clip measure strategies successful Bash]

Often Requested Questions

Q: Wherefore is close clip measure crucial successful scripting?

A: Close clip measure is indispensable for optimizing book show, figuring out bottlenecks, and knowing however your codification behaves nether antithetic situations. This accusation tin aid you brand knowledgeable selections astir codification enhancements and assets allocation.

Mastering clip measure strategies successful Bash scripting is indispensable for optimizing your codification and knowing its show traits. From basal timing with the clip bid to millisecond precision utilizing day and outer instruments, take the methodology that champion fits your wants. By incorporating these strategies, you tin addition invaluable insights into your scripts and brand knowledgeable selections astir optimization methods. Research these antithetic strategies and take the 1 that champion aligns with your scripting targets. Additional investigation into ammunition scripting champion practices and show optimization methods tin heighten your scripting proficiency.

  • Bash Scripting Show Tuning
  • Precocious Bash Scripting Strategies

GNU Clip clip male leaf Day bid tutorialQuestion & Answer :
I mark the commencement and extremity clip utilizing day +"%T", which outcomes successful thing similar:

10:33:fifty six 10:36:10 

However might I cipher and mark the quality betwixt these 2?

I would similar to acquire thing similar:

2m 14s 

Bash has a useful SECONDS builtin adaptable that tracks the figure of seconds that person handed since the ammunition was began. This adaptable retains its properties once assigned to, and the worth returned last the duty is the figure of seconds since the duty positive the assigned worth.

Frankincense, you tin conscionable fit SECONDS to zero earlier beginning the timed case, merely publication SECONDS last the case, and bash the clip arithmetic earlier displaying.

#!/usr/bin/env bash SECONDS=zero # bash any activity period=$SECONDS echo "$((period / 60)) minutes and $((period % 60)) seconds elapsed." 

Arsenic this resolution doesn’t be connected day +%s (which is a GNU delay), it’s moveable to each programs supported by Bash.

Documentation:

SECONDS This adaptable expands to the figure of seconds since the ammunition was began. Duty to this adaptable resets the number to the worth assigned, and the expanded worth turns into the worth assigned positive the figure of seconds since the duty. The figure of seconds astatine ammunition invocation and the actual clip are ever decided by querying the scheme timepiece. If SECONDS is unset, it loses its particular properties, equal if it is subsequently reset. [https://www.gnu.org/package/bash/handbook/bash.html]