NetBSD-5.0.2/share/man/man9/microuptime.9

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.\" $FreeBSD: src/share/man/man9/microuptime.9,v 1.7 2005/01/12 21:48:25 ru Exp $
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.Dd November 24, 2008
.Dt MICROUPTIME 9
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm binuptime ,
.Nm getbinuptime ,
.Nm microuptime ,
.Nm getmicrouptime ,
.Nm nanouptime ,
.Nm getnanouptime
.Nd get the time elapsed since boot
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In sys/time.h
.Ft void
.Fn binuptime "struct bintime *bt"
.Ft void
.Fn getbinuptime "struct bintime *bt"
.Ft void
.Fn microuptime "struct timeval *tv"
.Ft void
.Fn getmicrouptime "struct timeval *tv"
.Ft void
.Fn nanouptime "struct timespec *ts"
.Ft void
.Fn getnanouptime "struct timespec *tsp"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Fn binuptime
and
.Fn getbinuptime
functions store the time elapsed since boot as a
.Vt "struct bintime"
at the address specified by
.Fa bt .
The
.Fn microuptime
and
.Fn getmicrouptime
functions perform the same utility, but record the elapsed time as a
.Vt "struct timeval"
instead.
Similarly the
.Fn nanouptime
and
.Fn getnanouptime
functions store the elapsed time as a
.Vt "struct timespec" .
.Pp
The
.Fn binuptime ,
.Fn microuptime ,
and
.Fn nanouptime
functions
always query the timecounter to return the current time as precisely as
possible.
Whereas
.Fn getbinuptime ,
.Fn getmicrouptime ,
and
.Fn getnanouptime
functions are abstractions which return a less precise, but
faster to obtain, time.
.Pp
The intent of the
.Fn getbinuptime ,
.Fn getmicrouptime ,
and
.Fn getnanouptime
functions is to enforce the user's preference for timer accuracy versus
execution time.
They should be used where a precision of
.Pf 1/ Em HZ
(e.g., 10 msec on a
.Pf 100 Em HZ
machine, see
.Xr hz 9 )
is acceptable or where performance is priority.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr bintime 9 ,
.Xr getbintime 9 ,
.Xr getmicrotime 9 ,
.Xr getnanotime 9 ,
.Xr hz 9 ,
.Xr microtime 9 ,
.Xr nanotime 9 ,
.Xr timecounter 9 ,
.Xr tvtohz 9
.Sh AUTHORS
This manual page was written by
.An Kelly Yancey Aq kbyanc@posi.net .