Strange data...

[Zachary Antolak]

I implemented a timer in my PHP page to see how long it takes to run.
Here's the code:

$this->start_time = microtime();
/* All the code */
$this->end_time = microtime();
$this->calc_time = ($this->end_time - $this->start_time);
print "<tr><td colspan=\"5\">C alculated in: <b>";
printf("%." . $this->time_precisi on . "f", $this->calc_time);
print " seconds</b></td></tr>\n";

It works, but occasionally it returns a negative value, i.e. -0.890163
seconds. Why does this happen and how can I fix it?

[2trax]

On Fri, 04 Jul 2003 00:54:49 -0700, Zachary Antolak wrote:

I implemented a timer in my PHP page to see how long it takes to run.
Here's the code:

$this->start_time = microtime();
/* All the code */
$this->end_time = microtime();
$this->calc_time = ($this->end_time - $this->start_time); print "<tr><td
colspan=\"5\">C alculated in: <b>"; printf("%." . $this->time_precisi on .
"f", $this->calc_time); print " seconds</b></td></tr>\n";

It works, but occasionally it returns a negative value, i.e. -0.890163
seconds. Why does this happen and how can I fix it?

It's not working reliably because microtime() returns an array, rather
than a single value. One part of the array is the time in seconds, the
other is the decimal places. 0.0015

Use this code to get the microtime as a usable value:

function get_microtime() {
list($micro, $sec) = explode(" ",microtime ()); $mtime = (float)$sec +
(float)$micro; return $mtime;
}

Adding the two components together would result in a number 16 digits
long, which is too big for a 'double' or 'float'. PHP seems to throw away
the least significant digits in cases like this, and on my machine the
result appears to be accurate to at least 5 decimal places (1/10,000 s).
---
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[Zachary Antolak]

2trax <2t***@salterpr ojects.com> wrote in message news:<pa******* *************** ******@salterpr ojects.com>...

On Fri, 04 Jul 2003 00:54:49 -0700, Zachary Antolak wrote:

I implemented a timer in my PHP page to see how long it takes to run.
Here's the code:

$this->start_time = microtime();
/* All the code */
$this->end_time = microtime();
$this->calc_time = ($this->end_time - $this->start_time); print "<tr><td
colspan=\"5\">C alculated in: <b>"; printf("%." . $this->time_precisi on .
"f", $this->calc_time); print " seconds</b></td></tr>\n";

It works, but occasionally it returns a negative value, i.e. -0.890163
seconds. Why does this happen and how can I fix it?

It's not working reliably because microtime() returns an array, rather
than a single value. One part of the array is the time in seconds, the
other is the decimal places. 0.0015

Use this code to get the microtime as a usable value:

function get_microtime() {
list($micro, $sec) = explode(" ",microtime ()); $mtime = (float)$sec +
(float)$micro; return $mtime;
}

Adding the two components together would result in a number 16 digits
long, which is too big for a 'double' or 'float'. PHP seems to throw away
the least significant digits in cases like this, and on my machine the
result appears to be accurate to at least 5 decimal places (1/10,000 s).
---
Posted via news://freenews.netfront.net
Complaints to ne**@netfront.n et

Actually, the normal times returned are usually around 0.1xxxxx and
the strange ones are around -0.8xxxxx. They're like a normal value,
but -1. So, I made a test for it:

if ($this->calc_time < 0)
{
$this->calc_time = $this->calc_time + 1;
}

It seems to work. Is this okay to use?

[Pedro]

Zachary Antolak wrote:

Actually, the normal times returned are usually around 0.1xxxxx and
the strange ones are around -0.8xxxxx. They're like a normal value,
but -1. So, I made a test for it:

if ($this->calc_time < 0)
{
$this->calc_time = $this->calc_time + 1;
}

It seems to work. Is this okay to use?

NO! It is *NOT* okay to use if you want valid data!
Copied from http://www.php.net/microtime
--------
Description

string microtime ( void)

Returns the string "msec sec" where sec is the current time
measured in the number of seconds since the Unix Epoch
(0:00:00 January 1, 1970 GMT), and msec is the microseconds
part. This function is only available on operating systems
that support the gettimeofday() system call.

Both portions of the string are returned in units of seconds.
========

So, right now if I do
<?php
$a = microtime();
echo '[ ', $a, ' ]';
?>

I get

[ 0.18475200 1057352986 ]

and in exactly five seconds I'd get

[ 0.18475200 1057352991 ]
so now I do
<?php
$first = '0.18475200 1057352986';
$second = '0.18475200 1057352991';
echo '[ ', $second - $first, ' ]';
?>

to get
[ 0 ]
I guess this isn't what you want :)

Check the very first example on the PHP manual to transform the string
"0.18475200 1057352986" to the float 1057352986.1847 5200
Happy Coding !!
--
"Yes, I'm positive."
"Are you sure?"
"Help, somebody has stolen one of my electrons!"
Two atoms are talking:

[Zachary Antolak]

Pedro <he****@hotpop. com> wrote in message news:<7d******* *************** ********@news.m eganetnews.com> ...

Zachary Antolak wrote:

Actually, the normal times returned are usually around 0.1xxxxx and
the strange ones are around -0.8xxxxx. They're like a normal value,
but -1. So, I made a test for it:

if ($this->calc_time < 0)
{
$this->calc_time = $this->calc_time + 1;
}

It seems to work. Is this okay to use?

NO! It is *NOT* okay to use if you want valid data!
Copied from http://www.php.net/microtime
--------
Description

string microtime ( void)

Returns the string "msec sec" where sec is the current time
measured in the number of seconds since the Unix Epoch
(0:00:00 January 1, 1970 GMT), and msec is the microseconds
part. This function is only available on operating systems
that support the gettimeofday() system call.

Both portions of the string are returned in units of seconds.
========

So, right now if I do
<?php
$a = microtime();
echo '[ ', $a, ' ]';
?>

I get

[ 0.18475200 1057352986 ]

and in exactly five seconds I'd get

[ 0.18475200 1057352991 ]
so now I do
<?php
$first = '0.18475200 1057352986';
$second = '0.18475200 1057352991';
echo '[ ', $second - $first, ' ]';
?>

to get
[ 0 ]
I guess this isn't what you want :)

Check the very first example on the PHP manual to transform the string
"0.18475200 1057352986" to the float 1057352986.1847 5200
Happy Coding !!

Here's the function (it's in a class):

function get_microtime()
{
list($this->usec, $this->sec) = explode(" ", microtime());
return (float)$this->usec + (float)$this->sec;
}

Is this okay?