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How to Accurately Measure Function Execution Time Using gettimeofday()

gitbox 2025-09-28
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<p><h1>How to Accurately Measure Function Execution Time Using gettimeofday()?</h1></p>
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When optimizing performance or fine-tuning code, we often need to know the execution time of a specific function or code block. The traditional method is to use <code>microtime<span>()

Explanation of the Results

In the code above, gettimeofday(true) directly returns a floating-point number representing the seconds since the Unix epoch (including microseconds). With this, we only need a simple subtraction to get the precise execution time. The result usually appears as a number like 0.500123, accurate to the microsecond.

Use Cases

Using gettimeofday() to obtain precise execution time is suitable for the following scenarios:

  • Performance testing: comparing the efficiency of different implementations.
  • Optimization analysis: identifying code bottlenecks.
  • High-precision logging: recording execution times in logs to help troubleshoot issues.

Conclusion

gettimeofday() provides a convenient method for high-precision timing. By using it in the gettimeofday(true) form, we can quickly measure the execution time of functions or code snippets, enabling better performance tuning and problem analysis.