## Timers

Timers — keep track of elapsed time.

## Synopsis

    #include <glib.h>

    struct      GTimer;
    GTimer*     g_timer_new                     (void);
    void        g_timer_start                   (GTimer *timer);
    void        g_timer_stop                    (GTimer *timer);
    gdouble     g_timer_elapsed                 (GTimer *timer,
                                                 gulong *microseconds);
    void        g_timer_reset                   (GTimer *timer);
    void        g_timer_destroy                 (GTimer *timer);

## Description

GTimer records a start time, and counts microseconds elapsed since that time. This is done somewhat differently on different platforms, and can be tricky to get exactly right, so GTimer provides a portable/convenient interface.

## Details

### struct GTimer

    struct GTimer;

Opaque datatype that records a start time.

### g_timer_new ()

    GTimer*     g_timer_new                     (void);

Creates a new timer, and starts timing (i.e. g_timer_start() is implicitly called for you).

Returns : | a new GTimer.

### g_timer_start ()

    void        g_timer_start                   (GTimer *timer);

Marks a start time, so that future calls to g_timer_elapsed() will report the time since g_timer_start() was called. g_timer_new() automatically marks the start time, so no need to call g_timer_start() immediately after creating the timer.

`timer` : | a GTimer.

### g_timer_stop ()

    void        g_timer_stop                    (GTimer *timer);

Marks an end time, so calls to g_timer_elapsed() will return the difference between this end time and the start time.

`timer` : | a GTimer.

### g_timer_elapsed ()

    gdouble     g_timer_elapsed                 (GTimer *timer,
                                                 gulong *microseconds);

If `timer` has been started but not stopped, obtains the time since the timer was started. If `timer` has been stopped, obtains the elapsed time between the time it was started and the time it was stopped. The return value is the number of seconds elapsed, including any fractional part. The `microseconds` out parameter is essentially useless.

`timer` : | a GTimer.
`microseconds` : | fractional part of seconds elapsed, in microseconds (that is, the total number of microseconds elapsed, modulo 1000000)
Returns : | seconds elapsed as a floating point value, including any fractional part.

### g_timer_reset ()

    void        g_timer_reset                   (GTimer *timer);

This function is useless; it's fine to call g_timer_start() on an already-started timer to reset the start time, so g_timer_reset() serves no purpose.

`timer` : | a GTimer.

### g_timer_destroy ()

    void        g_timer_destroy                 (GTimer *timer);

Destroys a timer, freeing associated resources.

`timer` : | a GTimer to destroy.