# Fortran Wiki system_clock

## Description

system_clock lets you measure durations of time with the precision of the smallest time increment generally available on a system by returning processor-dependent values based on the current value of the processor clock. The clock value is incremented by one for each clock count until the value count_max is reached and is then reset to zero at the next count. clock therefore is a modulo value that lies in the range 0 to count_max. count_rate and count_max are assumed constant (even though CPU rates can vary on a single platform).

count_rate is system dependent and can vary depending on the kind of the arguments.

If there is no clock, or querying the clock fails, count is set to -huge(count), and count_rate and count_max are set to zero.

system_clock is typically used to measure short time intervals (system clocks may be 24-hour clocks or measure processor clock ticks since boot, for example). It is most often used for measuring or tracking the time spent in code blocks in lieu of using profiling tools.

## Standard

Fortran 95 and later

Subroutine

## Syntax

call system_clock([count, count_rate, count_max])

## Arguments

• count - (Optional) shall be a scalar of type integer with intent(out).
• count_rate - (Optional) shall be a scalar of type integer or real with intent(out).
• count_max - (Optional) shall be a scalar of type integer with intent(out).

## Example

program test_system_clock
integer :: count, count_rate, count_max
call system_clock(count, count_rate, count_max)
write(*,*) count, count_rate, count_max
end program