Sentry Answers>Python>

Measure elapsed time in Python

Measure elapsed time in Python

David Y.

—

The ProblemJump To Solution

How can I measure the execution time of my Python code?

The Solution

We can do this using the perf_counter function in Python’s built-in time module.

Click to Copy
import time

start = time.perf_counter()

function_to_time()

end = time.perf_counter()
print(end - start)  # will print the elapsed time in seconds

In most cases, perf_counter will give us the results we want, as it measures the real amount of time our system took between calls. However, as operating systems often switch between processes, there is no guarantee that this function will provide an accurate record of the amount of time spent executing only our code. To determine this, we can use process_time instead. This function will ignore any time spent on other processes and should thus give us a more isolated result useful for measuring code efficiency.

Click to Copy
import time

start = time.process_time()

function_to_time()

end = time.process_time()
print(end - start)  # will print the time spent on this process in seconds
  • Sentry BlogPython Performance Testing: A Comprehensive Guide
  • Sentry BlogLogging in Python: A Developer’s Guide
  • Syntax.fm logo
    Listen to the Syntax Podcast

    Tasty Treats for Web Developers brought to you by Sentry. Web development tips and tricks hosted by Wes Bos and Scott Tolinski

    Listen to Syntax

Loved by over 4 million developers and more than 90,000 organizations worldwide, Sentry provides code-level observability to many of the world’s best-known companies like Disney, Peloton, Cloudflare, Eventbrite, Slack, Supercell, and Rockstar Games. Each month we process billions of exceptions from the most popular products on the internet.

learn more about sentryjoin our discord
© 2024 • Sentry is a registered Trademark
of Functional Software, Inc.