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04.28.2008 at 04:23AM PDT, ID: 23358343

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8.3

How to use ftime() to get system time in seconds and milliseconds

Zones: Objective-C Programming Language, C Programming Language

Tags: C

How do I get the computer time in seconds and milliseconds since the epoch?
I am using XCode and coding in C and running on Intel computers. I want to use ftime() but I can't work out how to use it!

I have tried to compile the code given as an answer to this question:
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Programming_Languages/Cplusplus/Q_20302889.html
but this won't compile:

I get 1 error and 1 warning:
error: storage size of 'timebuffer' isn't known
warning: unused variable 'timebuffer'

I really need to sort this out for my MIDI sequencer project. Any help would be great.

All I need is a way to get system time in seconds and milliseconds!

         
             #include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/timeb.h>
#include <time.h>
 
int main( void )
{
   struct _timeb timebuffer;
   char *timeline;
 
   _ftime( &timebuffer );
   timeline = ctime( & ( timebuffer.time ) );
 
   printf( "The time is %.19s.%hu %s", timeline, timebuffer.millitm, &timeline[20] );
   return 0;
}

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Question Stats

Zone: Apple

Question Asked By: 00hubblemp

Solution Provided By: evilrix

Participating Experts: 3

Solution Grade: A

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04.28.2008 at 04:31AM PDT, ID: 21452983

Rank: Guru

evilrix:

Remove leading underscore from timeb and ftime and it compiles.

                       
             #include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/timeb.h>
#include <time.h>
 
int main( void )
{
   struct timeb timebuffer;
   char *timeline;
 
   ftime( &timebuffer );
   timeline = ctime( & ( timebuffer.time ) );
 
   printf( "The time is %.19s.%hu %s", timeline, timebuffer.millitm, &timeline[20] );
   return 0;
}

Open in New Window

Accepted Solution

04.28.2008 at 04:32AM PDT, ID: 21452988

Rank: Guru

evilrix:

http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/007908775/xsh/systimeb.h.html

04.28.2008 at 04:39AM PDT, ID: 21453022

00hubblemp:

Wow that was quick thanks evilrix!

Ok thats compiling and running fine now but I just want to print seconds and milliseconds. In the timeb structure millitm is an unsigned short and seconds is part of time_t.

How do you print these using printf? something like this?:

printf("Seconds:%d,Milliseconds:%d",time_t,timebuffer.millitm);

04.28.2008 at 04:42AM PDT, ID: 21453029

Rank: Sage

Infinity08:

>> Remove leading underscore from timeb and ftime and it compiles.

That really depends on your compiler. My compiler (gcc) has the versions with the underscore too.

Check whether you have the <sys/timeb.h> header, and how it defines the struct needed for the ftime function.

Note that you shouldn't use the ftime function, but should use time instead (if seconds are enough).

http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/clibrary/ctime/time.html

If you need micro-seconds, then take a look at gettimeofday :

http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/000095399/functions/gettimeofday.html

04.28.2008 at 04:42AM PDT, ID: 21453030

SergeanT_SID:

It is better to use clock() function instead. It returns the time in milliseconds.
Example:
clock_t start, finish;
double duration;

start = clock();
while( i-- ) ;
finish = clock();
duration = (double)(finish - start) / CLOCKS_PER_SEC;
CLOCKS_PER_SEC usually is 1000 it means 1 clock = 1 millisecond.

04.28.2008 at 04:46AM PDT, ID: 21453051

Rank: Guru

evilrix:

Since millitm is an unsigned short you probably want to use %u.

04.28.2008 at 04:48AM PDT, ID: 21453056

Rank: Guru

evilrix:

>> That really depends on your compiler. My compiler (gcc) has the versions with the underscore too.
True, but it was a suggestion to try not a mandate :)

04.28.2008 at 04:49AM PDT, ID: 21453059

00hubblemp:

The purpose for this is to be able to get the time when a MIDI event has happened and then write it to a file for playback.

First I'd have to get the time of the start of the program. When a MIDI event happens I get the time again and work out how long after the start that was and write it to a file along with the MIDI info (note number and velocity). Then when I play it back I get the start time and then play each note after the correct amount of time has passed.

How do I access and display the number of seconds?!

I can print the number of milliseconds like this:

                       
             #include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/timeb.h>
#include <time.h>
 
int main( void )
{
	struct timeb timebuffer;
	
	ftime( &timebuffer );
	
	printf( "nMilliseconds:%hu\n",timebuffer.millitm);
	return 0;
}

Open in New Window

04.28.2008 at 04:50AM PDT, ID: 21453063

Rank: Sage

Infinity08:

>> It is better to use clock() function instead. It returns the time in milliseconds.

Yes, but not since the epoch ;) So, it's not usable for 00hubblemp ...

Btw, the reason I said this earlier :

>> Note that you shouldn't use the ftime function

is because the ftime function is obsolete now.

04.28.2008 at 04:53AM PDT, ID: 21453070

00hubblemp:

How do I access the number of seconds?

timebuffer.time ?

What data type is it?

Infinity08

04.28.2008 at 04:58AM PDT, ID: 21453099

>> How do I access the number of seconds?

So, you're not considering what I said about ftime being obsolete ?

00hubblemp

04.28.2008 at 04:59AM PDT, ID: 21453105

Solved with this code:

         
             #include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/timeb.h>
#include <time.h>
 
int main( void )
{
	struct timeb timebuffer;
	
	ftime( &timebuffer );
	
	printf( "Seconds:%d\nMilliseconds:%hu\n",timebuffer.time, timebuffer.millitm);
	return 0;
}

Open in New Window

00hubblemp

04.28.2008 at 05:03AM PDT, ID: 21453129

Even though ftime() is obsolete I am only doing this is a 1st year university assignment, this isn't going to be used by the public, just marked by my tutor. Everyone else decided to use usleep() in a while loop to work out time but this way is far easier to use especially for polyphonic sequencing.

Infinity08

04.28.2008 at 05:13AM PDT, ID: 21453166

>> Even though ftime() is obsolete I am only doing this is a 1st year university assignment

Sure. But why not use the recommended gettimeofday function instead as I suggested earlier ? That way you get the same advantages of ftime, plus you're not using an obsolete function ...

20080236-EE-VQP-29 / EE_QW_2_20070628