cxxtimer: A timer for modern C++

This is a header only C++ library that offers an easy-to-use Timer class.

You just need to include the header file cxxtimer.hpp and that's it. You can already instantiate cxxtimer::Timer objects to time your C++ programs.

Quick Start

The code below shows how to use cxxtimer library.

#include <cxxtimer.hpp>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>

int main(int argc, char** argv) {

    // Instantiate cxxtimer::Timer object
    cxxtimer::Timer timer;
    
    // Start the timer
    timer.start();
    
    // Wait for the user
    std::string input_1;
    std::cout << "Please, type something and press ENTER to continue: ";
    std::getline(std::cin, input_1);
    
    // Stop/pause the timer
    timer.stop();
    
    // Get the elapsed time
    std::cout << "You took " << timer.count<cxxtimer::s>() << " seconds." << std::endl;
    std::cout << "You took " << timer.count<cxxtimer::ms>() << " milliseconds." << std::endl;
    std::cout << "You took " << timer.count<cxxtimer::ns>() << " nanoseconds." << std::endl;
    
    return 0;
}

The cxxtimer::Timer class can be resumed after stop/pause. You just need to call timer.start() again. Furthermore, you can reset the timer as well. For this, you can call the method timer.reset(). After calling timer.reset(), the timer will be paused, so you have to call timer.start() to start to time again.

Constructors and Methods

Constructors

cxxtimer::Timer(bool start = false)

If the parameter start is set to true, the timer will be started just after its construction. If set to false or ignored, the timer won't be automatically started after construction.

Besides the constructor above, copy constructor

cxxtimer::Timer(const Timer& other)

and move constructor

Timer(Timer&& other)

are defined.

start

Start/resume the timer.

void cxxtimer::start()

stop

void cxxtimer::stop()

Stop/pause the timer. After calling the method stop(), every call to count() will return the same value. To start timing again, you have to call start().

reset

void cxxtimer::reset()

Stop the timer and reset it. After calling the method reset(), every call to count() will return zero. To start timing again, you have to call start().

count

template <class duration_t = cxxtimer::ms>
typename duration_t::rep count() const

It returns the time elapsed so far. By default, it return the time in milliseconds. However, you can specify the precision you want. For example, to get the time in seconds, you can call or count<std::chrono::seconds>() or count<cxxtimer::s>(). The following options are available:

Precision	Alias	Description
std::chrono::nanoseconds	cxxtimer::ns	nanoseconds
std::chrono::microseconds	cxxtimer::us	microseconds
std::chrono::milliseconds	cxxtimer::ms	milliseconds (default)
std::chrono::seconds	cxxtimer::s	seconds
std::chrono::minutes	cxxtimer::min	minutes
std::chrono::hours	cxxtimer::h	hours

Linking

This is a header only library.

Requirements

The only build requirement is a C++ compiler that supports C++11 or above, since cxxtimer.hpp library depends on C++ library chrono. For example GCC >= 5.0 or clang >= 3.4.