getTime

Category:Control

getTime()

Category: Control

Gets the number of milliseconds elapsed since January 1, 1970.

Time on a computer is calculated from the number of milliseconds elapsed since January 1, 1970. Every computer has a counter that is counting these milliseconds. You can use getTime() to calculate the elapsed time between two events.

Examples

console.log(getTime());

How Fast? Calculate how long it takes to execute two statements. Use the speed slider in the Debug Console to slow down execution.

// Calculate how long it takes to execute two statements. Use the speed slider in the Debug Console to slow dowen execution.
var start=getTime();
var stop=getTime();
console.log(stop-start);

Five Clicks Calculate the elapsed time for 5 clicks.

// Calculate the elapsed time for 5 clicks.
var start=0;
var stop=0;
textLabel("instructions", "Click the button five times as fast as you can");
button("gameButton", "Click me!");
textLabel("results", "");
var count = 0;
onEvent("gameButton", "click", function(){
  if (count==0) start=getTime();
  count = count + 1;
  if (count==5) {
    stop=getTime();
    setText("results", "You clicked 5 times in " + (stop-start) + " milliseconds.");
  }
});

Syntax

getTime();

Parameters

getTime() does not take any parameters.

Returns

Returns the number of milliseconds elapsed since January 1, 1970.

Tips

It is difficult to calculate today's date from getTime(). See the full javascript Date() class instead.

Found a bug in the documentation? Let us know at documentation@code.org