{"id":10618,"date":"2019-08-05T16:06:34","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T10:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=10618"},"modified":"2023-08-05T23:08:38","modified_gmt":"2023-08-05T17:38:38","slug":"find-the-total-execution-time-of-command-program-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/find-the-total-execution-time-of-command-program-windows\/","title":{"rendered":"Find the Total Execution Time of a Command or Program in Windows"},"content":{"rendered":"

You may sometimes want to to find the total execution time of a command or program you run. To optimize a script or program, it’s essential to know how long does it take for it to complete execution. This helps you compare the total run time of Program A vs. Program B and optimize your code, especially if you’re a professional software developer, analyst, or software tester.<\/p>\n

Measuring the total execution time of a script or process is one of the most critical aspects of performance optimization. This article discusses various methods to find the total execution time of a program, script, or command in Windows.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Find the Total Execution Time of a Program or Command<\/h2>\n

Using PowerShell<\/h3>\n

PowerShell includes the built-in Measure-Command<\/code> cmdlet that helps you measure the time it takes to run script blocks, cmdlets, or even external programs. Here is a sample PowerShell command-line which measures the times takes for the ping google.com<\/code> command-line to finish:<\/p>\n

Measure-Command { ping google.com | Out-Host }<\/pre>\n
After the ping command’s output, you’ll see the following statistics at the bottom.<\/p>\n
Days : 0\r\nHours : 0\r\nMinutes : 0\r\nSeconds : 3\r\nMilliseconds : 66\r\nTicks : 30660017\r\nTotalDays : 3.5486130787037E-05\r\nTotalHours : 0.000851667138888889\r\nTotalMinutes : 0.0511000283333333\r\nTotalSeconds : 3.0660017\r\nTotalMilliseconds : 3066.0017<\/pre>\n
\"measure<\/p>\n
Read more about Measure-Object<\/a> at Microsoft Docs.<\/em><\/p>\n
The command took 3.06 seconds to complete. The Out-Host<\/code> argument, if omitted, PowerShell hides the output (of Ping<\/code> command) in the console — you’ll see only the execution statistics.<\/p>\n
If you have a lengthy command-line or you need to run multiple commands, you can put them in a Windows batch file and then run it using PowerShell. Here is an example:<\/p>\n
Measure-Command { Start-Process \"d:\\batch\\backup.bat\" | Out-Host }<\/pre>\n
RELATED:<\/strong> Find the Amount of Words, Chars and Lines in a Text File Using PowerShell<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
Using VBScript<\/h3>\n
Here is a simple VBScript that calculates the total execution time of a command-line, program, or batch file.<\/p>\n
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject(\"WScript.Shell\")\r\nsCmd = chr(34) & \"D:\\Batch Files\\Backup.bat\" & chr(34)\r\ndtmStartTime = Timer\r\nReturn = WshShell.Run(sCmd, 1, true)\r\nWscript.Echo \"The task completed in \" & Round(Timer - dtmStartTime, 2) & \" seconds.\"<\/pre>\n
    \n
  1. Copy the above code to Notepad<\/li>\n
  2. Save the file as exec_timer.vbs<\/code>.<\/li>\n
  3. In the 2nd line that starts with sCmd<\/code>, modify the program you want to run — i.e., replace \"D:\\Batch Files\\Backup.bat\"<\/code> in the above example with the application or batch you want to run.<\/li>\n
  4. Save the file and close Notepad.<\/li>\n
  5. Double-click the VBScript file to run it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    The VBScript launches the batch file, command, or the program. After it finishes running, the total execution time is shown (in seconds.)<\/p>\n
    \"measure<\/p>\n
    \n
    Using TimeIt.exe from Resource Kit Tools<\/h3>\n
    TimeIt.exe<\/code> is part of the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit<\/a> (mirror link<\/a>) tool that shows the program or command execution timings. This program runs fine on Windows 10 as well.<\/p>\n
    File info:<\/strong> rktools.exe - SHA256 - 6260d75a2cb30201c5424defec3ba505edb92b91802825e2fd6eb9bd58ed5cca<\/a><\/pre>\n
      \n
    1. After downloading the RK Tools, open rktools.exe using 7-Zip.<\/li>\n
    2. Then, open inside rktools.msi<\/code>
      \n\"measure<\/li>\n
    3. Find TimeIt.exe<\/code> and extract to a folder.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      To run a command or batch file and measure its total execution time, here are some examples:<\/p>\n
      timeit.exe ping google.com<\/pre>\n
      timeit.exe C:\\Batch Files\\Measure command run time\\backup.bat<\/pre>\n
      \"measure<\/p>\n
      TimeIt<\/strong> showed the process exit time and elapsed time, among other details. When I checked, the bytes written<\/strong> value didn’t match with the output file size. But, the bytes read\/written info is not the subject of discussion in this article.<\/p>\n
      More Information<\/h2>\n
      When writing the article about extracting audio from a video<\/a> file using the FFmpeg.exe, I thought of measuring the execution time of the command. I used the above script to measure the time taken to extract MP3 audio from a movie file using the FFmpeg.exe command-line tool.<\/p>\n
      The 1st batch included this command-line:<\/p>\n
      ffmpeg -i \"C:\\Movies\\Movie.mp4\" -ss 01:20:00 -t 00:00:20 -codec:a libmp3lame -ab 128000 \"D:\\output-1.mp3\"<\/pre>\n
      The 2nd batch included this command-line:<\/p>\n
      ffmpeg -ss 01:20:00 -i \"C:\\Movies\\Movie.mp4\" -t 00:00:20 -codec:a libmp3lame -ab 128000 \"D:\\output-2.mp3\"<\/pre>\n
      As you can see, the number of command-line arguments and the respective values are exactly the same. The only difference is that the -ss<\/code> (starting point) parameter is placed before the -i<\/code> (file input) parameter, in the 2nd batch file. The method is called Input seeking<\/strong> as per FFmpeg.exe documentation<\/a>. The 1st method is called Output seeking<\/strong>, wherein the -i<\/code> (input file) parameter appears before the -ss<\/code> parameter.<\/p>\n