Measure execution time in C#

This post will discuss how to measure the execution time of a code snippet in C#.

1. Using `Stopwatch` Class

The Stopwatch class from System.Diagnostics namespace is used to measure elapsed time accurately. The following example demonstrates how to measure the execution time using the Stopwatch class.

using System;

using System.Diagnostics;

using System.Threading;

public class Example

{

public static void Main()

{

Stopwatch stopwatch = new Stopwatch();

stopwatch.Start();

Thread.Sleep(5000);

stopwatch.Stop();

Console.WriteLine("Elapsed Time is {0} ms", stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds);

}

Output: Elapsed Time is 5000 ms

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To get the elapsed time as a TimeSpan value, we can do like:

using System;

using System.Diagnostics;

using System.Threading;

public class Example

{

public static void Main()

{

Stopwatch stopwatch = new Stopwatch();

stopwatch.Start();

Thread.Sleep(5000);

stopwatch.Stop();

TimeSpan ts = stopwatch.Elapsed;

Console.WriteLine("Elapsed Time is {0:00}:{1:00}:{2:00}.{3}",

ts.Hours, ts.Minutes, ts.Seconds, ts.Milliseconds);

}

Output: Elapsed Time is 00:00:05.14

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2. Using `DateTime.Now()` method

Alternatively, we can get the total elapsed time in milliseconds using DateTime.Now. Note that this solution lacks the high-performance measurement of the Stopwatch class.

using System;

using System.Threading;

public class Example

{

public static void Main()

{

DateTime start = DateTime.Now;

Thread.Sleep(5000);

DateTime end = DateTime.Now;

TimeSpan ts = (end - start);

Console.WriteLine("Elapsed Time is {0} ms", ts.TotalMilliseconds);

}

Elapsed Time is 5005.1603 ms

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3. Using Stopwatch `GetTimestamp()` method

Stopwatch GetTimestamp() method returns the current number of ticks of the underlying timer mechanism. 10,000 Ticks form a millisecond.

using System;

using System.Threading;

using System.Diagnostics;

public class Example

{

public static void Main()

{

long start = Stopwatch.GetTimestamp();

Thread.Sleep(5000);

long end = Stopwatch.GetTimestamp();

Console.WriteLine("Elapsed Time is {0} ticks", (end - start));

}

Elapsed Time is 50111533 ticks

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That’s all about measuring execution time in C#.

Measure execution time in C#

1. Using Stopwatch Class

2. Using DateTime.Now() method

3. Using Stopwatch GetTimestamp() method

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1. Using `Stopwatch` Class

2. Using `DateTime.Now()` method

3. Using Stopwatch `GetTimestamp()` method