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

The answer of driblio can be made a little shorter (though not much readable)

@echo off

:: Calculate the start timestamp
set _time=%time%
set /a _hours=100%_time:~0,2%%%100,_min=100%_time:~3,2%%%100,_sec=100%_time:~6,2%%%100,_cs=%_time:~9,2%
set /a _started=_hours*60*60*100+_min*60*100+_sec*100+_cs


:: yourCommandHere


:: Calculate the difference in cSeconds
set _time=%time%
set /a _hours=100%_time:~0,2%%%100,_min=100%_time:~3,2%%%100,_sec=100%_time:~6,2%%%100,_cs=%_time:~9,2%
set /a _duration=_hours*60*60*100+_min*60*100+_sec*100+_cs-_started

:: Populate variables for rendering (100+ needed for padding)
set /a _hours=_duration/60/60/100,_min=100+_duration/60/100%%60,_sec=100+(_duration/100%%60%%60),_cs=100+_duration%%100

echo Done at: %_time% took : %_hours%:%_min:~-2%:%_sec:~-2%.%_cs:~-2%

::prints something like:
::Done at: 12:37:53,70 took: 0:02:03.55

To the remark of Luke Sampson this version is octal safe, though the task should be completed in 24 hours.

Answer 2

Here is my method, no conversion and no ms. It is useful to determine encoding durations (limited to 24 hours though):

@echo off

:start
REM Start time storage
set ST=%time%
echo Process started at %ST%
echo.
echo.

REM Your commands
REM Your commands
REM Your commands

:end
REM Start Time Definition
for /f "tokens=1-3 delims=:" %%a in ("%ST%") do set /a h1=%%a & set /a m1=%%b & set /a s1=%%c

REM End Time Definition
for /f "tokens=1-3 delims=:" %%a in ("%TIME%") do set /a h2=%%a & set /a m2=%%b & set /a s2=%%c

REM Difference
set /a h3=%h2%-%h1% & set /a m3=%m2%-%m1% & set /a s3=%s2%-%s1%

REM Time Adjustment
if %h3% LSS 0 set /a h3=%h3%+24
if %m3% LSS 0 set /a m3=%m3%+60 & set /a h3=%h3%-1
if %s3% LSS 0 set /a s3=%s3%+60 & set /a m3=%m3%-1

echo Start    :    %ST%
echo End    :    %time%
echo.
echo Total    :    %h3%:%m3%:%s3%
echo.
pause

Answer 3

As long as it doesn't last longer than 24hours...

@echo off

set starttime=%TIME%
set startcsec=%STARTTIME:~9,2%
set startsecs=%STARTTIME:~6,2%
set startmins=%STARTTIME:~3,2%
set starthour=%STARTTIME:~0,2%
set /a starttime=(%starthour%*60*60*100)+(%startmins%*60*100)+(%startsecs%*100)+(%startcsec%)

:TimeThis
ping localhost 

set endtime=%time%
set endcsec=%endTIME:~9,2%
set endsecs=%endTIME:~6,2%
set endmins=%endTIME:~3,2%
set endhour=%endTIME:~0,2%
if %endhour% LSS %starthour% set /a endhour+=24
set /a endtime=(%endhour%*60*60*100)+(%endmins%*60*100)+(%endsecs%*100)+(%endcsec%)

set /a timetaken= ( %endtime% - %starttime% )
set /a timetakens= %timetaken% / 100
set timetaken=%timetakens%.%timetaken:~-2%

echo.
echo Took: %timetaken% sec.

Answer 4

This is a comment/edit to Luke Sampson's nice timecmd.bat and reply to

For some reason this only gives me output in whole seconds... which for me is useless. I mean that I run timecmd pause, and it always results in 1.00 sec, 2.00 sec, 4.00 sec... even 0.00 sec! Windows 7. – Camilo Martin Sep 25 '13 at 16:00 "

On some configurations the delimiters may differ. The following change should cover atleast most western countries.

set options="tokens=1-4 delims=:,." (added comma)

The %time% milliseconds work on my system after adding that ','

(*because site doesn't allow anon comment and doesn't keep good track of identity even though I always use same guest email which combined with ipv6 ip and browser fingerprint should be enough to uniquely identify without password)

Answer 5

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.

Answer 6

Here is a

Postfix timer version:

Usage example:

timeout 1 | TimeIt.cmd

Execution took  ~969 milliseconds.

Copy & paste this into some editor like for example Notepad++ and save it as TimeIt.cmd:

:: --- TimeIt.cmd ----
    @echo off
    setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

    call :ShowHelp

    :: Set pipeline initialization time
    set t1=%time%

    :: Wait for stdin
    more

    :: Set time at which stdin was ready
    set t2=!time!


    :: Calculate difference
    Call :GetMSeconds Tms1 t1
    Call :GetMSeconds Tms2 t2

    set /a deltaMSecs=%Tms2%-%Tms1%
    echo Execution took ~ %deltaMSecs% milliseconds.

    endlocal
goto :eof

:GetMSeconds
    Call :Parse        TimeAsArgs %2
    Call :CalcMSeconds %1 %TimeAsArgs%

goto :eof

:CalcMSeconds
    set /a %1= (%2 * 3600*1000) + (%3 * 60*1000) + (%4 * 1000) + (%5)
goto :eof

:Parse

    :: Mask time like " 0:23:29,12"
    set %1=!%2: 0=0!

    :: Replace time separators with " "
    set %1=!%1::= !
    set %1=!%1:.= !
    set %1=!%1:,= !

    :: Delete leading zero - so it'll not parsed as octal later
    set %1=!%1: 0= !
goto :eof

:ShowHelp
    echo %~n0 V1.0 [Dez 2015]
    echo.
    echo Usage: ^<Command^> ^| %~nx0
    echo.
    echo Wait for pipe getting ready... :)
    echo  (Press Ctrl+Z ^<Enter^> to Cancel)
goto :eof

^ - Based on 'Daniel Sparks' Version