focal (9) bintime.9freebsd.gz

NAME

     bintime, getbintime, microtime, getmicrotime, nanotime, getnanotime — get the current time

SYNOPSIS

     #include <sys/time.h>

     void
     bintime(struct bintime *bt);

     void
     getbintime(struct bintime *bt);

     void
     microtime(struct timeval *tv);

     void
     getmicrotime(struct timeval *tv);

     void
     nanotime(struct timespec *ts);

     void
     getnanotime(struct timespec *tsp);

DESCRIPTION

     The bintime() and getbintime() functions store the system time as a struct bintime at the addresses
     specified by bt.  The microtime() and getmicrotime() functions perform the same utility, but record the
     time as a struct timeval instead.  Similarly the nanotime() and getnanotime() functions store the time as a
     struct timespec.

     The bintime(), microtime(), and nanotime() functions always query the timecounter to return the current
     time as precisely as possible.  Whereas getbintime(), getmicrotime(), and getnanotime() functions are
     abstractions which return a less precise, but faster to obtain, time.

     The intent of the getbintime(), getmicrotime(), and getnanotime() functions is to enforce the user's
     preference for timer accuracy versus execution time.

SEE ALSO

     binuptime(9), getbinuptime(9), getmicrouptime(9), getnanouptime(9), microuptime(9), nanouptime(9),
     tvtohz(9)

HISTORY

     The bintime functions first appeared in FreeBSD 5.0.  The microtime and nanotime functions first appeared
     in FreeBSD 3.0 but have existed in other incarnations since 4.4BSD.

AUTHORS

     This manual page was written by Kelly Yancey <kbyanc@posi.net>.