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 following script emulates *nix epoch time, but it is local and regional. It should handle calender edge cases including leap years. If Cygwin is available, epoch values can be compared by specifying the Cygwin option.

I'm in EST and the difference reported is 4 hours which is relatively correct. There are some interesting solutions to remove the TZ and regional dependencies, but nothing trivial that I noticed.

@ECHO off
SETLOCAL EnableDelayedExpansion

::
::  Emulates local epoch seconds
::

:: Call passing local date and time
CALL :SECONDS "%DATE%" "%TIME%"
IF !SECONDS! LEQ 0 GOTO END

:: Not testing - print and exit
IF NOT "%~1"=="cygwin" (
    ECHO !SECONDS!
    GOTO END
)

:: Call on Cygwin to get epoch time
FOR /F %%c IN ('C:\cygwin\bin\date +%%s') DO SET EPOCH=%%c

:: Show the results
ECHO Local Seconds: !SECONDS!
ECHO Epoch Seconds: !EPOCH!

:: Calculate difference between script and Cygwin
SET /A HOURS=(!EPOCH!-!SECONDS!)/3600
SET /A FRAC=(!EPOCH!-!SECONDS!)%%3600

:: Delta hours shown reflect TZ
ECHO Delta Hours: !HOURS! Remainder: !FRAC!

GOTO END

:SECONDS
SETLOCAL  EnableDelayedExpansion

    :: Expecting values from caller
    SET DATE=%~1
    SET TIME=%~2

    :: Emulate Unix epoch time without considering TZ
    SET "SINCE_YEAR=1970"

    :: Regional constraint! Expecting date and time in the following formats:
    ::   Sun 03/08/2015   Day MM/DD/YYYY
    ::   20:04:53.64         HH:MM:SS
    SET VALID_DATE=0
    ECHO !DATE! | FINDSTR /R /C:"^... [0-9 ][0-9]/[0-9 ][0-9]/[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]" > nul && SET VALID_DATE=1
    SET VALID_TIME=0
    ECHO !TIME! | FINDSTR /R /C:"^[0-9 ][0-9]:[0-9 ][0-9]:[0-9 ][0-9]" > nul && SET VALID_TIME=1
    IF NOT "!VALID_DATE!!VALID_TIME!"=="11" (
        IF !VALID_DATE! EQU 0  ECHO Unsupported Date value: !DATE! 1>&2
        IF !VALID_TIME! EQU 0  ECHO Unsupported Time value: !TIME! 1>&2
        SET SECONDS=0
        GOTO SECONDS_END
    )

    :: Parse values
    SET "YYYY=!DATE:~10,4!"
    SET "MM=!DATE:~4,2!"
    SET "DD=!DATE:~7,2!"
    SET "HH=!TIME:~0,2!"
    SET "NN=!TIME:~3,2!"
    SET "SS=!TIME:~6,2!"
    SET /A YEARS=!YYYY!-!SINCE_YEAR!
    SET /A DAYS=!YEARS!*365

    :: Bump year if after February  - want leading zeroes for this test
    IF "!MM!!DD!" GEQ "0301" SET /A YEARS+=1

    :: Remove leading zeros that can cause octet probs for SET /A
    FOR %%r IN (MM,DD,HH,NN,SS) DO (
        SET "v=%%r"
        SET "t=!%%r!"
        SET /A N=!t:~0,1!0
        IF 0 EQU !N! SET "!v!=!t:~1!"
    )

    :: Increase days according to number of leap years
    SET /A DAYS+=(!YEARS!+3)/4-(!SINCE_YEAR!%%4+3)/4

    :: Increase days by preceding months of current year
    FOR %%n IN (31:1,28:2,31:3,30:4,31:5,30:6,31:7,31:8,30:9,31:10,30:11) DO (
        SET "n=%%n"
        IF !MM! GTR !n:~3! SET /A DAYS+=!n:~0,2!
    )

    :: Multiply and add it all together
    SET /A SECONDS=(!DAYS!+!DD!-1)*86400+!HH!*3600+!NN!*60+!SS!

:SECONDS_END
ENDLOCAL & SET "SECONDS=%SECONDS%"
GOTO :EOF

:END
ENDLOCAL

Answer 2

Hehe, the most simple solution might be this:

echo %time%
YourApp.exe
echo %time%

This works on every Windows out of the box.

---

In case of an application using console output, it might be convenient to store the starting time in a temporary variable:

set startTime=%time%
YourApp.exe
echo Start Time: %startTime%
echo Finish Time: %time%

Answer 3

The following script uses only "cmd.exe" and outputs the number of milliseconds from the time a pipeline is created to the time that the process preceding the script exits. i.e., Type your command, and pipe the to the script. Example: "timeout 3 | runtime.cmd" should yield something like "2990." If you need both the runtime output and the stdin output, redirect stdin before the pipe - ex: "dir /s 1>temp.txt | runtime.cmd" would dump the output of the "dir" command to "temp.txt" and would print the runtime to the console.

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

:: find target for recursive calls
if not "%1"=="" (
    shift /1
    goto :%1
    exit /b
)

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

:: wait for stdin
more > nul

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

::parse t1
set t1=!t1::= !
set t1=!t1:.= !
set t1=!t1: 0= !

:: parse t2
set t2=!t2::= !
set t2=!t2:.= !
set t2=!t2: 0= !

:: calc difference
pushd %~dp0
for /f %%i in ('%0 calc !t1!') do for /f %%j in ('%0 calc !t2!') do (
    set /a t=%%j-%%i
    echo !t!
)
popd
exit /b
goto :eof

:calc
set /a t=(%1*(3600*1000))+(%2*(60*1000))+(%3*1000)+(%4)
echo !t!
goto :eof

endlocal

Answer 4

Not quite as elegant as some of the functionality on Unix, but create a cmd file which looks like:

@echo off
time < nul
yourexecutable.exe > c:\temp\output.txt
time < nul
rem on newer windows system you can try time /T

That will display the start and stop times like so:

The current time is: 10:31:57.92
Enter the new time:
The current time is: 10:32:05.94
Enter the new time:

Answer 5

"Lean and Mean" TIMER with Regional format, 24h and mixed input support
Adapting Aacini's substitution method body, no IF's, just one FOR (my regional fix)

1: File timer.bat placed somewhere in %PATH% or the current dir

@echo off & rem :AveYo: compact timer function with Regional format, 24-hours and mixed input support
if not defined timer_set (if not "%~1"=="" (call set "timer_set=%~1") else set "timer_set=%TIME: =0%") & goto :eof
(if not "%~1"=="" (call set "timer_end=%~1") else set "timer_end=%TIME: =0%") & setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
for /f "tokens=1-6 delims=0123456789" %%i in ("%timer_end%%timer_set%") do (set CE=%%i&set DE=%%k&set CS=%%l&set DS=%%n)
set "TE=!timer_end:%DE%=%%100)*100+1!"     & set "TS=!timer_set:%DS%=%%100)*100+1!"
set/A "T=((((10!TE:%CE%=%%100)*60+1!%%100)-((((10!TS:%CS%=%%100)*60+1!%%100)" & set/A "T=!T:-=8640000-!"
set/A "cc=T%%100+100,T/=100,ss=T%%60+100,T/=60,mm=T%%60+100,hh=T/60+100"
set "value=!hh:~1!%CE%!mm:~1!%CE%!ss:~1!%DE%!cc:~1!" & if "%~2"=="" echo/!value!
endlocal & set "timer_end=%value%" & set "timer_set=" & goto :eof

Usage:
timer & echo start_cmds & timeout /t 3 & echo end_cmds & timer
timer & timer "23:23:23,00"
timer "23:23:23,00" & timer
timer "13.23.23,00" & timer "03:03:03.00"
timer & timer "0:00:00.00" no & cmd /v:on /c echo until midnight=!timer_end!
Input can now be mixed, for those unlikely, but possible time format changes during execution

2: Function :timer bundled with the batch script (sample usage below):

@echo off
set "TIMER=call :timer" & rem short macro
echo.
echo EXAMPLE:
call :timer
timeout /t 3 >nul & rem Any process here..
call :timer
echo.
echo SHORT MACRO:
%TIMER% & timeout /t 1 & %TIMER% 
echo.
echo TEST INPUT:
set "start=22:04:04.58"
set "end=04.22.44,22"
echo %start% ~ start & echo %end% ~ end
call :timer "%start%"
call :timer "%end%"
echo.
%TIMER% & %TIMER% "00:00:00.00" no 
echo UNTIL MIDNIGHT: %timer_end%
echo.
pause 
exit /b

:: to test it, copy-paste both above and below code sections

rem :AveYo: compact timer function with Regional format, 24-hours and mixed input support 
:timer Usage " call :timer [input - optional] [no - optional]" :i Result printed on second call, saved to timer_end 
if not defined timer_set (if not "%~1"=="" (call set "timer_set=%~1") else set "timer_set=%TIME: =0%") & goto :eof
(if not "%~1"=="" (call set "timer_end=%~1") else set "timer_end=%TIME: =0%") & setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
for /f "tokens=1-6 delims=0123456789" %%i in ("%timer_end%%timer_set%") do (set CE=%%i&set DE=%%k&set CS=%%l&set DS=%%n)
set "TE=!timer_end:%DE%=%%100)*100+1!"     & set "TS=!timer_set:%DS%=%%100)*100+1!"
set/A "T=((((10!TE:%CE%=%%100)*60+1!%%100)-((((10!TS:%CS%=%%100)*60+1!%%100)" & set/A "T=!T:-=8640000-!"
set/A "cc=T%%100+100,T/=100,ss=T%%60+100,T/=60,mm=T%%60+100,hh=T/60+100"
set "value=!hh:~1!%CE%!mm:~1!%CE%!ss:~1!%DE%!cc:~1!" & if "%~2"=="" echo/!value!
endlocal & set "timer_end=%value%" & set "timer_set=" & goto :eof

CE,DE and CS,DS stand for colon end, dot end and colon set, dot set - used for mixed format support

Answer 6

In case anyone else has come here looking for an answer to this question, there's a Windows API function called GetProcessTimes(). It doesn't look like too much work to write a little C program that would start the command, make this call, and return the process times.