Measuring Elapsed Time in Powershell

Here’s a handy method to measure elapsed time in powershell. To do this, we will utilize the following two classes:

System.DateTime
System.TimeSpan

Assuming that the variable “$script:StartTime” was set at the beginning of your script, elapsed time can be determined using either of the following methods:

$elapsedTime = new-timespan $script:StartTime $(get-date)

or

$elapsedTime = $(get-date) - $script:StartTime

Both methods work exactly the same and produce a System.TimeSpan object.

Here’s a sample script to demonstrate the process:

$script:startTime = get-date
 
function GetElapsedTime() {
    $runtime = $(get-date) - $script:StartTime
    $retStr = [string]::format("{0} days, {1} hours, {2} minutes, {3}.{4} seconds", `
        $runtime.Days, `
        $runtime.Hours, `
        $runtime.Minutes, `
        $runtime.Seconds, `
        $runtime.Milliseconds)
    $retStr
    }
 
write-host "Script Started at $script:startTime"
for ($i=1; $i -lt 10; $i++) {
    get-process | out-null
    sleep 1
    write-host "   Elapsed Time: $(GetElapsedTime)"
    }
write-host "Script Ended at $(get-date)"
write-host "Total Elapsed Time: $(GetElapsedTime)"

Just another example of how extremely cool Powershell is!

UPDATE

And here’s an easier, more concise, and even better alternative for measuring elapsed time using the “System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch” class:

(Kudos & Thanks to Stephen Mills for this contribution)

$ElapsedTime = [System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch]::StartNew()
 
write-host "Script Started at $(get-date)"
for ($i=1; $i -lt 10; $i++) {
    get-process | out-null
    sleep 1
    write-host "   Elapsed Time: $($ElapsedTime.Elapsed.ToString())"
    }
write-host "Script Ended at $(get-date)"
write-host "Total Elapsed Time: $($ElapsedTime.Elapsed.ToString())"

Sample Output:

Script Started at 03/30/2010 07:42:27
   Elapsed Time: 00:00:01.3665694
   Elapsed Time: 00:00:02.3825139
   Elapsed Time: 00:00:03.3661775
   Elapsed Time: 00:00:04.3726722
   Elapsed Time: 00:00:05.2734151
   Elapsed Time: 00:00:06.2691990
   Elapsed Time: 00:00:07.2806800
   Elapsed Time: 00:00:08.2851789
   Elapsed Time: 00:00:09.2956065
Script Ended at 03/30/2010 07:42:37
Total Elapsed Time: 00:00:09.3097072

Note that the “Elapsed” property returns values similar to the “TimeSpan” class, so you still have the option of formatting the output if so desired”

PS C:\powershell> $Elapsed = [System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch]::StartNew()
PS C:\powershell> $elapsed.elapsed
Days              : 0
Hours             : 0
Minutes           : 0
Seconds           : 11
Milliseconds      : 672
Ticks             : 116729232
TotalDays         : 0.000135103277777778
TotalHours        : 0.00324247866666667
TotalMinutes      : 0.19454872
TotalSeconds      : 11.6729232
TotalMilliseconds : 11672.9232