timex(1)timex(1)NAMEtimex - Time a command and report process data and system activity
SYNOPSIStimex [-p] [-o] [-s] command [argument...]
The synopsis for the timex command differs when the CMD_ENV environment
variable is set to svr4 or SVR4. timex [-p [-fhkmrt] ] [-o] [-s] com‐
mand [argument...]
OPTIONS
[SVR4] Displays the total number of read or written blocks (for block
devices) and the number of transferred characters (for character
devices) as the result of the specified command and all its children.
The process accounting software must be resident and active for this
option to work properly. For more information on the process accounting
software, see acctcom(8). Writes the timing output to standard error.
This is the default. [SVR4] Displays process accounting records for
the specified command and all its children. The process accounting
software must be resident and active for this option to work properly.
For more information on the process accounting software, see acct‐
com(8). Additionally, you can use the -f, -h, -k, -m, -r, and -t
options to vary the output from timex. [SVR4] Displays status on the
fork and exec flags as well as system exit in the output. [SVR4] Dis‐
plays the ratio of the total available CPU-time to the process used
during execution divided by the elapsed-time, in lieu of the mean mem‐
ory size. This is computed as total-CPU-time/elapsed-time. [SVR4] Dis‐
plays the total number of kcore-minutes in lieu of the memory size.
[SVR4] Displays the mean core size. This is the default. [SVR4] Dis‐
plays the CPU factor, computed as (user-time/(system-time+user-time)).
[SVR4] Shows separate times for system-time and CPU-time. The timex
command always reports the number of blocks read or written (for block
devices) and the number of transferred characters (for character
devices). [SVR4] Displays the total system activity during the execu‐
tion of the specified command; the default is to display activity based
only on the specified command. See sar(1) for a description of the out‐
put.
OPERANDS
Is the command to be timed.
DESCRIPTION
The timex command reports the elapsed (real) time, the user time, and
the system time spent in execution for a given command after the com‐
mand is executed. These times are in terms of seconds, taken to 2 deci‐
mal places. The timex command can also report the total system activ‐
ity.
If process accounting software is active, then you can display addi‐
tional data for the command and all its children. Such data can be
listed or summarized during the command's execution. See acctcom(8) for
further information on the process accounting software.
The output of the timex is written to standard error.
NOTES
The timex command uses process records for the specified command from
the /var/adm/pacct accounting file by examining background processes
with the same user ID, terminal ID, and the time frame of command's
execution.
RESTRICTIONS
The process accounting information must be active to use the -p, -f,
-h, -k, -m, -o, -r, and -t options.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The following environment variables affect the behavior of timex:
Resolves the behaviour of the command for all options that produce con‐
flicting behaviour. If this variable is set to SVR4 or svr4, the com‐
mand behaves as a System V command. The SVR4 options are documented
with the [SVR4] tag.
EXAMPLES
The following example shows how to time the find command while it finds
a file named abc. $ timex find . -name abc -print
The following example shows how to time the find command and display
the accounting records for the find command and all its children. $
timex-p find . -name abc -print
FILES
Process accounting file.
SEE ALSO
Commands: sar(1), time(1), acctcom(8)
Functions: times(3)timex(1)
