clock_gettime
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clock_gettime(p1, p2 = v2)
public
Returns a time returned by POSIX clock_gettime() function.
p Process.clock_gettime(Process::CLOCK_MONOTONIC) #=> 896053.968060096
clock_id specifies a kind of clock. It is specifed as a constant which begins with Process::CLOCK_ such as Process::CLOCK_REALTIME and Process::CLOCK_MONOTONIC.
The supported constants depends on OS and version. Ruby provides following types of clock_id if available.
- CLOCK_REALTIME
-
SUSv2 to 4, Linux 2.5.63, FreeBSD 3.0, NetBSD 2.0, OpenBSD 2.1
- CLOCK_MONOTONIC
-
SUSv3 to 4, Linux 2.5.63, FreeBSD 3.0, NetBSD 2.0, OpenBSD 3.4
- CLOCK_PROCESS_CPUTIME_ID
-
SUSv3 to 4, Linux 2.5.63
- CLOCK_THREAD_CPUTIME_ID
-
SUSv3 to 4, Linux 2.5.63, FreeBSD 7.1
- CLOCK_VIRTUAL
-
FreeBSD 3.0, OpenBSD 2.1
- CLOCK_PROF
-
FreeBSD 3.0, OpenBSD 2.1
- CLOCK_REALTIME_FAST
-
FreeBSD 8.1
- CLOCK_REALTIME_PRECISE
-
FreeBSD 8.1
- CLOCK_REALTIME_COARSE
-
Linux 2.6.32
- CLOCK_REALTIME_ALARM
-
Linux 3.0
- CLOCK_MONOTONIC_FAST
-
FreeBSD 8.1
- CLOCK_MONOTONIC_PRECISE
-
FreeBSD 8.1
- CLOCK_MONOTONIC_COARSE
-
Linux 2.6.32
- CLOCK_MONOTONIC_RAW
-
Linux 2.6.28
- CLOCK_BOOTTIME
-
Linux 2.6.39
- CLOCK_BOOTTIME_ALARM
-
Linux 3.0
- CLOCK_UPTIME
-
FreeBSD 7.0
- CLOCK_UPTIME_FAST
-
FreeBSD 8.1
- CLOCK_UPTIME_PRECISE
-
FreeBSD 8.1
- CLOCK_SECOND
-
FreeBSD 8.1
Note that SUS stands for Single Unix Specification. SUS contains POSIX and clock_gettime is defined in the POSIX part. SUS defines CLOCK_REALTIME mandatory but CLOCK_MONOTONIC, CLOCK_PROCESS_CPUTIME_ID and CLOCK_THREAD_CPUTIME_ID are optional.
Also, several symbols are accepted as clock_id. There are emulations for clock_gettime().
For example, Process::CLOCK_REALTIME is defined as :GETTIMEOFDAY_BASED_CLOCK_REALTIME when clock_gettime() is not available.
Emulations for CLOCK_REALTIME:
- :GETTIMEOFDAY_BASED_CLOCK_REALTIME
-
Use gettimeofday() defined by SUS. (SUSv4 obsoleted it, though.) The resolution is 1 microsecond.
- :TIME_BASED_CLOCK_REALTIME
-
Use time() defined by ISO C. The resolution is 1 second.
Emulations for CLOCK_MONOTONIC:
- :MACH_ABSOLUTE_TIME_BASED_CLOCK_MONOTONIC
-
Use mach_absolute_time(), available on Darwin. The resolution is CPU dependent.
- :TIMES_BASED_CLOCK_MONOTONIC
-
Use the result value of times() defined by POSIX. POSIX defines it as “times() shall return the elapsed real time, in clock ticks, since an arbitrary point in the past (for example, system start-up time)”. For example, GNU/Linux returns a value based on jiffies and it is monotonic. However, 4.4BSD uses gettimeofday() and it is not monotonic. (FreeBSD uses clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC) instead, though.) The resolution is the clock tick. “getconf CLK_TCK” command shows the clock ticks per second. (The clock ticks per second is defined by HZ macro in older systems.) If it is 100 and clock_t is 32 bits integer type, the resolution is 10 millisecond and cannot represent over 497 days.
Emulations for CLOCK_PROCESS_CPUTIME_ID:
- :GETRUSAGE_BASED_CLOCK_PROCESS_CPUTIME_ID
-
Use getrusage() defined by SUS. getrusage() is used with RUSAGE_SELF to obtain the time only for the calling process (excluding the time for child processes). The result is addition of user time (ru_utime) and system time (ru_stime). The resolution is 1 microsecond.
- :TIMES_BASED_CLOCK_PROCESS_CPUTIME_ID
-
Use times() defined by POSIX. The result is addition of user time (tms_utime) and system time (tms_stime). tms_cutime and tms_cstime are ignored to exclude the time for child processes. The resolution is the clock tick. “getconf CLK_TCK” command shows the clock ticks per second. (The clock ticks per second is defined by HZ macro in older systems.) If it is 100, the resolution is 10 millisecond.
- :CLOCK_BASED_CLOCK_PROCESS_CPUTIME_ID
-
Use clock() defined by ISO C. The resolution is 1/CLOCKS_PER_SEC. CLOCKS_PER_SEC is the C-level macro defined by time.h. SUS defines CLOCKS_PER_SEC is 1000000. Non-Unix systems may define it a different value, though. If CLOCKS_PER_SEC is 1000000 as SUS, the resolution is 1 microsecond. If CLOCKS_PER_SEC is 1000000 and clock_t is 32 bits integer type, it cannot represent over 72 minutes.
If the given clock_id is not supported, Errno::EINVAL is raised.
unit specifies a type of the return value.
- :float_second
-
number of seconds as a float (default)
- :float_millisecond
-
number of milliseconds as a float
- :float_microsecond
-
number of microseconds as a float
- :second
-
number of seconds as an integer
- :millisecond
-
number of milliseconds as an integer
- :microsecond
-
number of microseconds as an integer
- :nanosecond
-
number of nanoseconds as an integer
The underlying function, clock_gettime(), returns a number of nanoseconds. Float object (IEEE 754 double) is not enough to represent the return value for CLOCK_REALTIME. If the exact nanoseconds value is required, use :nanoseconds as the unit.
The origin (zero) of the returned value varies. For example, system start up time, process start up time, the Epoch, etc.
The origin in CLOCK_REALTIME is defined as the Epoch (1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC). But some systems count leap seconds and others doesn’t. So the result can be interpreted differently across systems. Time.now is recommended over CLOCK_REALTIME.