How do I measure execution time of a command on the Windows command line?

Question

Is there a built-in way to measure execution time of a command on the Windows command line?

Answer 1

If you want

1. To measure execution time down to the hundredth of a second in (hh:mm:ss.ff format)
2. To not have to download and install a resource pack
3. To look like a huge DOS nerd (who doesn't)

Try copying the following script into a new batch file (e.g. timecmd.bat):

@echo off
@setlocal

set start=%time%

:: Runs your command
cmd /c %*

set end=%time%
set options="tokens=1-4 delims=:.,"
for /f %options% %%a in ("%start%") do set start_h=%%a&set /a start_m=100%%b %% 100&set /a start_s=100%%c %% 100&set /a start_ms=100%%d %% 100
for /f %options% %%a in ("%end%") do set end_h=%%a&set /a end_m=100%%b %% 100&set /a end_s=100%%c %% 100&set /a end_ms=100%%d %% 100

set /a hours=%end_h%-%start_h%
set /a mins=%end_m%-%start_m%
set /a secs=%end_s%-%start_s%
set /a ms=%end_ms%-%start_ms%
if %ms% lss 0 set /a secs = %secs% - 1 & set /a ms = 100%ms%
if %secs% lss 0 set /a mins = %mins% - 1 & set /a secs = 60%secs%
if %mins% lss 0 set /a hours = %hours% - 1 & set /a mins = 60%mins%
if %hours% lss 0 set /a hours = 24%hours%
if 1%ms% lss 100 set ms=0%ms%

:: Mission accomplished
set /a totalsecs = %hours%*3600 + %mins%*60 + %secs%
echo command took %hours%:%mins%:%secs%.%ms% (%totalsecs%.%ms%s total)

Usage

If you put timecmd.bat in a directory in your path, you can call it from anywhere like this:

timecmd [your command]

E.g.

C:\>timecmd pause
Press any key to continue . . .
command took 0:0:1.18

If you want to do output redirection, you can quote the command like this:

timecmd "dir c:\windows /s > nul"

This should handle commands that run from before- to after-midnight, but the output will be wrong if your command runs for 24 hours or more.