pytictoc contains a class TicToc which replicates the functionality of MATLAB's tic and toc for easily timing sections of code. Under the hood, pytictoc uses the default_timer function from Python's timeit module.

INSTALLATION

pytictoc can be installed and updated via conda or pip.

pip :

pip install pytictoc
pip install pytictoc --upgrade

conda :

conda install pytictoc -c ecf
conda update pytictoc -c ecf

USAGE

Basic usage: :

>> from pytictoc import TicToc
>> t = TicToc() #create instance of class

>> t.tic() #Start timer
>> t.toc() #Time elapsed since t.tic()
Elapsed time is 2.612231 seconds.

A string passed to the toc method changes the printed message. This can be useful to differentiate timing of different sections in the same script. :

>> t.toc('Section 1 took')
Section 1 took 16.494467 seconds.

The default message can also be passed in the constructor, for easier usage with context managers: :

>> with TicToc(default_msg='Section 1 took'):
>>     ...
Section 1 took 16.494467 seconds.

The string passed to toc will override the string in the constructor if both are present.

An optional keyword argument restarts the timer (equivalent to t.tic()) after reporting the time elapsed. :

>> t.toc(restart=True)
Elapsed time is 36.986837 seconds.
>> t.toc()
Elapsed time is 2.393425 seconds.

If you want to return the time elapsed to a variable rather than printing it, use the tocvalue method. :

>> spam = t.tocvalue()
>> spam
20.156261717544602

You can also pass in an alternative stream to print to: :

>> t = TicToc(stream=mystream)

The TicToc class can be used within a context manager as an alternative way to time a section of code. The time taken to run the code inside the with statement will be reported on exit. :

>> with TicToc():
>>     spam = [x+1 for x in range(10000)]
Elapsed time is 0.002343 seconds.

Determining and setting the timer

pytictoc uses timeit.default_timer to time code. On Python 3.3 and later, this is an alias for time.perf_counter. On earlier versions of Python it is an alias for the most precise timer for a given system.

To see which function is being used: :

>> import pytictoc
>> pytictoc.default_timer
<function time.perf_counter>

You can change the timer by simple assignment, or by passing a different timer function into an object's constructor. :

>> import time
>> pytictoc.default_timer = time.clock
>> pytictoc.default_timer
<function time.clock>

>> import time
>> pytictoc.TicToc(timer=time.clock)