Python speed testing - Time Difference - milliseconds

Question

What is the proper way to compare 2 times in Python in order to speed test a section of code? I tried reading the API docs. I\'m not sure I understand the timedelta thing.

Answer 1

Since Python 2.7 there's the timedelta.total_seconds() method. So, to get the elapsed milliseconds:

>>> import datetime
>>> a = datetime.datetime.now()
>>> b = datetime.datetime.now()
>>> delta = b - a
>>> print delta
0:00:05.077263
>>> int(delta.total_seconds() * 1000) # milliseconds
5077