what is the purpose of microtime() ?

sarmenhb · 11-09-2008, 02:21 AM

i was looking at the php help page and found this script below, apparently its supposed to be a timer.. but i did a echo of microtime and found a bunch of gibberish float values. whats its purpose?? thanks

Code:

<?php
$time_start = microtime(true);

// Sleep for a while
usleep(100);

$time_end = microtime(true);
$time = $time_end - $time_start;

echo "Did nothing in $time seconds\n";
?>

martins256 · 11-09-2008, 08:59 AM

You can use it for benchmarking. Do something like this:

Code:

<?php
//put this at the top of your script
$time_start = microtime(true);

// here should be all your php stuff
usleep(100);


//finally get the time php needed to execute everything.
$time_end = microtime(true);
$time = $time_end - $time_start;

echo "Did nothing in $time seconds\n";
?>

If you want something better for benchmarking try xdebug.

ReSpawN · 11-09-2008, 03:03 PM

I always make my own microtime generator to generate total query time, clear time, fetch time, function times, load times, execution times ect.