Track memory usage of a method

Question

I have yet to find an elegant solution for this. I have a class with a method I want to track the memory usage of without modifying the function:

class Example
{         


        

Answer 1

You could use register_tick_function and just dump memeory_get_usage out every tick (line) and analysis it later. The class below could be improved by using debug_backtrace to find line number related to memory usage or adding time per line using microtime.

Profiler class

class Profiler
{

    private $_data_array = array();

    function __construct()
    {
        register_tick_function( array( $this, "tick" ) );
        declare(ticks = 1);
    }

    function __destruct()
    {
        unregister_tick_function( array( $this, "tick" ) );
    }

    function tick()
    {
        $this->_data_array[] = array(
            "memory" => memory_get_usage(),
            "time" => microtime( TRUE ),
            //if you need a backtrace you can uncomment this next line
            //"backtrace" => debug_backtrace( FALSE ),
        );
    }

    function getDataArray()
    {
        return $this->_data_array;
    }
}

Example

class Example
{
    public function hello($name)
    {
        $something = str_repeat($name, pow(1024, 2));
    }
}

$profiler = new Profiler(); //starts logging when created

$class = new Example;
$class->hello('a');

$data_array = $profiler->getDataArray();

unset( $profiler ); //stops logging when __destruct is called

print_r( $data_array );

Output

Array (
    [0] => Array (
            [memory] => 638088
            [time] => 1290788749.72
        )
    [1] => Array (
            [memory] => 638896
            [time] => 1290788749.72
        )
    [2] => Array (
            [memory] => 639536
            [time] => 1290788749.72
        )
    [3] => Array (
            [memory] => 640480
            [time] => 1290788749.72
        )
    [4] => Array (
            [memory] => 1689800 // <~ money!
            [time] => 1290788749.72
        )
    [5] => Array (
            [memory] => 641664
            [time] => 1290788749.72
        )
)

Possible Issue

Since this profiler class stores the data in PHP, the overall memory usage will increase artificially. One way to sidestep this issue would be to write the data out to a file as you go (serialized), and when your done you can read it back.