time(1)time(1)NAMEtime - time a command
SYNOPSIS
command
utility [argument ...]
DESCRIPTION
When a specified command or utility completes execution, prints the
elapsed time during the command or utility, the time spent in the sys‐
tem, and the time spent executing the command or utility. Times are
reported in seconds.
Execution time can depend on the performance of the memory in which the
program is running.
The times are printed to standard error.
Note that the shell also has a keyword that times an entire pipeline if
used anywhere in the pipeline. This action is different than the com‐
mand which times a particular command if used in a pipeline.
Options
recognizes the following options:
command The command to be executed and timed.
Writes the timing statistics to standard error.
utility The name of a utility to be invoked and timed. If the
utility operand names any of the shell special built-in
utilities, the time results are undefined. See csh(1)
and ksh(1) for information about special built-in util‐
ities.
argument Any string that is an argument to the utility.
SEE ALSOcsh(1), ksh(1), sh(1), timex(1), times(2).
STANDARDS CONFORMANCEtime(1)