Article View: comp.unix
Article #115Re: time command
From: Guy Harris
Date: Wed, 04 Jul 1990 00:54
Date: Wed, 04 Jul 1990 00:54
59 lines
3531 bytes
3531 bytes
>>>I've not run across a reasonable description of
>>>the output of the time command in unix doc that
>>>I've seen. What do these numbers mean? In general,
>>>what do they say about an application?
>>>
>>>e.g., 46.6u 1.8s 0:50 96% 0+1716k 5+0io 13pf+0w
>>
>>I would like to know the answer, too.
>
>The ``time'' shell builtin typically returns the contents of the tms
>structure.
Hrrumph. The *Bourne* shell "time" shell builtin typically returns the
contents of the "tms" structure. The *C* shell "time" builtin, which is
what his output looks like, selects various bits from the "struct
rusage" structure (what, you don't have such a structure on your system?
Not all UNIXes necessarily look exactly like yours...).
Here's a description from the SunOS 4.0.3 C shell manual page. This
describes the format of the "time" shell variable, which controls the
output format of the "time" command:
time Control automatic timing of commands. Can
be supplied with one or two values. The
first is the reporting threshold in CPU
seconds. The second is a string of tags
and text indicating which resources to
report on. A tag is a percent sign (%)
followed by a single upper-case letter
(unrecognized tags print as text):
%D Average amount of unshared data
space used in Kilobytes.
%E Elapsed (wallclock) time for the
command.
%F Page faults.
%I Number of block input opera-
tions.
%K Average amount of unshared stack
space used in Kilobytes.
%M Maximum real memory used during
execution of the process.
%O Number of block output opera-
tions.
%P Total CPU time - U (user) plus S
(system) - as a percentage of E
(elapsed) time.
%S Number of seconds of CPU time
consumed by the kernel on behalf
of the user's process.
%U Number of seconds of CPU time
devoted to the user's process.
%W Number of swaps.
%X Average amount of shared memory
used in Kilobytes.
The default summary display outputs from
the %U, %S, %E, %P, %X, %D, %I, %O, %F and
%W tags, in that order.
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!zorba!dtynan From: guy@auspex.UUCP (Guy Harris) Newsgroups: comp.unix Subject: Re: time command Message-ID: <3648@zorba.Tynan.COM> Date: 4 Jul 90 00:54:58 GMT References: <3556@zorba.Tynan.COM> <3570@zorba.Tynan.COM> <3615@zorba.Tynan.COM> Sender: dtynan@zorba.Tynan.COM Organization: Auspex Systems, Santa Clara Lines: 59 Approved: dtynan@zorba.Tynan.COM