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How to Use Decimals for Precision#

To set the number of decimals in the output, use the decimals parameter. Instead of the default value 2 for decimals, you can set the output precision up to 9 in the decimals parameter:

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from timer import Timer

with Timer(decimals=5):
    # Insert your code here

How it appears in the terminal:

% Elapsed time: 0.12345 seconds

Configuration Options#

Default value for decimals is 2. The range is minimum 0 for no decimals and up to 9:

Decimals Example Output
0 12 seconds
1 12.3 seconds
2 (default) 12.34 seconds
3 12.345 seconds
... ...
9 12.345678901 seconds

Humanised Output

When you measure time in microseconds, decimal precision may be important. But if a program runs for a minute or more, it doesn't make sense to display the output time in milliseconds. Therefore, the decimal configuration will be overridden in certain cases by humanised output.

Basic Usage#

To set the number of decimals in the output (only if less than an hour), use the decimals parameter. Instead of the default value 2 for decimals, you can set the output precision up to 9 in the decimals parameter.

Both with or without the with statement for context management:

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from timer import Timer

with Timer(decimals=5):
    # Insert your code here
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from timer import Timer

timer = Timer()
timer.start(decimals=5)

# Insert your code here

timer.stop()

In both cases, how it appears in the terminal is the same:

% Elapsed time: 0.12345 seconds

Different Decimals for Different Threads#

General Configuration#

It's also possible to set the decimals when initiating the Timer. This will last throughout the session (unless overridden by a specific thread):

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from timer import Timer

timer = Timer(decimals=6)
timer.start()

# Insert your code here

timer.stop()

How it appears in the terminal:

% Elapsed time: 0.123456 seconds

How to Bypass General Configuration and Set Decimals by Thread#

Or set the decimals when starting a new thread, which will also override the general decimals defined when initiating the Timer.

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from timer import Timer

timer = Timer(decimals=5)
timer.start(decimals=9)

# Insert your code here

timer.stop()

How it appears in the terminal:

% Elapsed time: 0.123456789 seconds

This works both with or without the with statement for context management:

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from timer import Timer

with Timer(thread="A", decimals=5):
    # Insert your code here

    with Timer(thread="B", decimals=2):
        # Insert more code here
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from timer import Timer

timer = Timer(decimals=5)
timer.start(thread="A")

# Insert your code here

timer.start(thread="B", decimals=2)

# Insert more code here

timer.stop(thread="B")

timer.stop(thread="A")

In both cases, how it appears in the terminal is the same:

% Elapsed time: 0.12 seconds for thread B
% Elapsed time: 0.12345 seconds for thread A

Precision in Nanoseconds

Timer for Python uses the native time.perf_counter_ns() function for maximum resolution in nanoseconds.