Linux Command Du Jour: time

I briefly mentioned "time" in the previously posted Linux command line cheat sheet, but I can't overstate its utility especially for ACCRE/Vampire users. The time command does exactly what it sounds like: it times exactly how long it takes to run anything at the command line. And it couldn't be easier to use. Just type the word "time" preceding what you would normally type in at the command line.

For example, instead of:

> ./sMDR run.cfg

Type this in instead:

> time ./sMDR run.cfg

The MDR analysis (or whatever other command) runs just as before, but now there will be a couple lines displayed telling you how long the command took to execute. (Depending on whether you're doing this on the local cheeses or on Vampire the output will look slightly different, but you want to look at the "real" time). If you don't have anything to run right now, fire up a terminal window and just try "time ls". Obviously it won't take long to run, but you can see how the time command works.

Where this becomes very useful is if you are preparing to run analyses on Vampire, where you must estimate the time it takes to execute a command or analysis. You can time smaller versions of a large analysis for a better estimate of how long something will take. For more information, type "man time" at the command line.