time [time options] ["commands"] or time string
(+|-)Stop (+) (+|-)Verbose (+) Iteration=number (1)
time time >.time "expl b command" time i=20 -stop -v >temp "beep" 'wmi'
If given no arguments and no command line, TIME merely prints the date and time. Otherwise, TIME executes the given command(s). Upon completion, TIME displays the elapsed real time, elapsed processor time, the number of characters (approximately) of keyboard I/O, and the number of file I/O calls generated. The +Verbose format (default) looks like this.
(Averaged over 2 iterations) Start 08/07/81 at 14:26:03.266 End 08/07/81 at 14:26:05.003 Elapsed Time 0:00:01.736 Processor Time 0:00:00.077 Key I/O = 24, File I/O = 2
If you specify -Verbose, the output takes the form
Elapsed 0:00:01.928, Proc 0:00:00.078, Key I/O 9, File I/O 2
The Iteration=number option lets you execute a command any number of times. The statistics generated reflect the total time taken by all the iterations.
The form of the command
time string
is used for time conversions.
If the string is the name of a time zone locale, TIME displays the current time in that locale. For example,
time gmt
displays the current time in terms of the Greenwich Mean Time time zone.
If the string represents a date/time, TIME displays that date and time in the current time zone locale. For example,
time 3 days
displays the date and time three days from now.
time 12:14 gmt
converts 12:14 Greenwich Mean Time to the equivalent local time and displays the result. The date/time string may have any form recognized by the B lib .TOSEC function; see "expl b lib .tosec" for details.
TIME calculates the processor time using the DRL TIME system call. Since this system call is none too accurate, the time reported should be taken with a grain of salt.
The terminal I/O count is only approximate because TSS keeps the number of characters divided by eight.
TIME also accepts a command line of the form
TIME [time options] : command
as in
time i=3 : beep
Copyright © 1996, Thinkage Ltd.