Generating time

[sjonger]

I want to know how long it takes to generate a html file. Is there a specific function for that? I can also measure the time at the start of the generating process and then again at the end, but i was wondering if there is a function for it in PHP. Couldn't find it on php.net....

[jason]

The most common way to do this is with microtime(). It is more accurate than using regular time functions because it measures to fractions of a second instead of just whole seconds like most of the time functions do. I believe php.net has an example for doing what you want, but basically, you call microtime() at the begining of the script and save the value into a variable ($start). Then you do your processing and call microtime() again ($end) and compare the two values.

--Jason

[Vin DSL]

I might mention that page generation times have very little to do with the display of same. Display times actually depend on the speed of your internet connect as well as the hardware configuration of your PC, especially your graphic card and processor speed.

Go look at my site, for instance. Page generation time of the homepage is usually in the .3 to .7 second range, however, it will take considerably longer than that for the page to display on most computers because of the graphic content on it, no pun intended.

[sjonger]

I am well aware of that Vin, I already managed to do it with microtime. It is just for fun, i don't need it for any serious business, so it doesn't have to be perfectly accurate or anything....

[Gwaihir]

Would an average over time of this provide a reasonable way to measure per page server load?

I.e. a way to find out what pages / page-generation constructs are particularly taxing on the server, given that we can't see the actual stats like CPU- en memory usage.