[](https://realpython.com/python-timer)
# `codetiming` - A flexible, customizable timer for your Python code
[](https://pypi.org/project/codetiming/)
[](https://pypi.org/project/codetiming/)
[](https://pypi.org/project/codetiming/)
[](https://github.com/realpython/codetiming/actions)
[](http://mypy-lang.org/)
[](https://interrogate.readthedocs.io/)
[](https://github.com/psf/black)
[](https://mit-license.org/)
Install `codetiming` from PyPI:
```
$ python -m pip install codetiming
```
The source code is [available on GitHub](https://github.com/realpython/codetiming).
For a complete tutorial on `codetiming`, see [Python Timer Functions: Three Ways to Monitor Your Code](https://realpython.com/python-timer) on [Real Python](https://realpython.com/).
## Basic Usage
You can use `codetiming.Timer` in several different ways:
1. As a **class**:
```python
t = Timer(name="class")
t.start()
# Do something
t.stop()
```
2. As a **context manager**:
```python
with Timer(name="context manager"):
# Do something
```
3. As a **decorator**:
```python
@Timer(name="decorator")
def stuff():
# Do something
```
## Arguments
`Timer` accepts the following arguments when it's created. All arguments are optional:
- **`name`:** An optional name for your timer
- **`text`:** The text that's shown when your timer ends. It should contain a `{}` placeholder that will be filled by the elapsed time in seconds (default: `"Elapsed time: {:.4f} seconds"`)
- **`initial_text`:** Show text when your timer starts. You may provide the string to be logged or `True` to show the default text `"Timer {name} started"` (default: `False`)
- **`logger`:** A function/callable that takes a string argument and will report the elapsed time when the logger is stopped (default: `print()`)
You can turn off explicit reporting of the elapsed time by setting `logger=None`.
In the template text, you can also use explicit attributes to refer to the `name` of the timer or log the elapsed time in `milliseconds`, `seconds` (the default), or `minutes`. For example:
```python
t1 = Timer(name="NamedTimer", text="{name}: {minutes:.1f} minutes")
t2 = Timer(text="Elapsed time: {milliseconds:.0f} ms")
```
Note that the strings used by `text` are **not** f-strings. Instead, they are used as templates that will be populated using `.format()` behind the scenes. If you want to combine the `text` template with an f-string, you need to use double braces for the template values:
```python
t = Timer(text=f"{__file__}: {{:.4f}}")
```
`text` is also allowed to be a callable like a function or a class. If `text` is a callable, it is expected to require one argument: the number of seconds elapsed. It should return a text string that will be logged using logger:
```python
t = Timer(text=lambda secs: f"{secs / 86400:.0f} days")
```
This allows you to use third-party libraries like [`humanfriendly`](https://pypi.org/project/humanfriendly/) to do the text formatting:
```python
from humanfriendly import format_timespan
t1 = Timer(text=format_timespan)
t2 = Timer(text=lambda secs: f"Elapsed time: {format_timespan(secs)}")
```
You may include a text that should be logged when the timer starts by setting `initial_text`:
```python
t = Timer(initial_text="And so it begins ...")
```
You can also set `initial_text=True` to use a default initial text.
## Capturing the Elapsed Time
When using `Timer` as a class, you can capture the elapsed time when calling `.stop()`:
```python
elapsed_time = t.stop()
```
You can also find the last measured elapsed time in the `.last` attribute. The following code will have the same effect as the previous example:
```python
t.stop()
elapsed_time = t.last
```
## Named Timers
Named timers are made available in the class dictionary `Timer.timers`. The elapsed time will accumulate if the same name or same timer is used several times. Consider the following example:
```pycon
>>> import logging
>>> from codetiming import Timer
>>> t = Timer("example", text="Time spent: {:.2f}", logger=logging.warning)
>>> t.start()
>>> t.stop()
WARNING:root:Time spent: 3.58
3.5836678670002584
>>> with t:
... _ = list(range(100_000_000))
...
WARNING:root:Time spent: 1.73
>>> Timer.timers
{'example': 5.312697440000193}
```
The example shows how you can redirect the timer output to the logging module. Note that the elapsed time spent in the two different uses of `t` has been accumulated in `Timer.timers`.
You can also get simple statistics about your named timers. Continuing from the example above:
```pycon
>>> Timer.timers.max("example")
3.5836678670002584
>>> Timer.timers.mean("example")
2.6563487200000964
>>> Timer.timers.stdev("example")
1.311427314335879
```
`timers` support `.count()`, `.total()`, `.min()`, `.max()`, `.mean()`, `.median()`, and `.stdev()`.
## Acknowledgments
`codetiming` is based on a similar module initially developed for the [Midgard Geodesy library](https://kartverket.github.io/midgard/) at the [Norwegian Mapping Authority](https://www.kartverket.no/en/).