Struct std::time::Instant

1.8.0 · source · []
pub struct Instant(_);
Expand description

A measurement of a monotonically nondecreasing clock. Opaque and useful only with Duration.

Instants are always guaranteed to be no less than any previously measured instant when created, and are often useful for tasks such as measuring benchmarks or timing how long an operation takes.

Note, however, that instants are not guaranteed to be steady. In other words, each tick of the underlying clock might not be the same length (e.g. some seconds may be longer than others). An instant may jump forwards or experience time dilation (slow down or speed up), but it will never go backwards.

Instants are opaque types that can only be compared to one another. There is no method to get “the number of seconds” from an instant. Instead, it only allows measuring the duration between two instants (or comparing two instants).

The size of an Instant struct may vary depending on the target operating system.

Example:

use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
use std::thread::sleep;

fn main() {
   let now = Instant::now();

   // we sleep for 2 seconds
   sleep(Duration::new(2, 0));
   // it prints '2'
   println!("{}", now.elapsed().as_secs());
}
Run

OS-specific behaviors

An Instant is a wrapper around system-specific types and it may behave differently depending on the underlying operating system. For example, the following snippet is fine on Linux but panics on macOS:

use std::time::{Instant, Duration};

let now = Instant::now();
let max_nanoseconds = u64::MAX / 1_000_000_000;
let duration = Duration::new(max_nanoseconds, 0);
println!("{:?}", now + duration);
Run

Underlying System calls

Currently, the following system calls are being used to get the current time using now():

Disclaimer: These system calls might change over time.

Note: mathematical operations like add may panic if the underlying structure cannot represent the new point in time.

Implementations

Returns an instant corresponding to “now”.

Examples
use std::time::Instant;

let now = Instant::now();
Run

Returns the amount of time elapsed from another instant to this one.

Panics

This function will panic if earlier is later than self.

Examples
use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
use std::thread::sleep;

let now = Instant::now();
sleep(Duration::new(1, 0));
let new_now = Instant::now();
println!("{:?}", new_now.duration_since(now));
Run

Returns the amount of time elapsed from another instant to this one, or None if that instant is later than this one.

Examples
use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
use std::thread::sleep;

let now = Instant::now();
sleep(Duration::new(1, 0));
let new_now = Instant::now();
println!("{:?}", new_now.checked_duration_since(now));
println!("{:?}", now.checked_duration_since(new_now)); // None
Run

Returns the amount of time elapsed from another instant to this one, or zero duration if that instant is later than this one.

Examples
use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
use std::thread::sleep;

let now = Instant::now();
sleep(Duration::new(1, 0));
let new_now = Instant::now();
println!("{:?}", new_now.saturating_duration_since(now));
println!("{:?}", now.saturating_duration_since(new_now)); // 0ns
Run

Returns the amount of time elapsed since this instant was created.

Panics

This function may panic if the current time is earlier than this instant, which is something that can happen if an Instant is produced synthetically.

Examples
use std::thread::sleep;
use std::time::{Duration, Instant};

let instant = Instant::now();
let three_secs = Duration::from_secs(3);
sleep(three_secs);
assert!(instant.elapsed() >= three_secs);
Run

Returns Some(t) where t is the time self + duration if t can be represented as Instant (which means it’s inside the bounds of the underlying data structure), None otherwise.

Returns Some(t) where t is the time self - duration if t can be represented as Instant (which means it’s inside the bounds of the underlying data structure), None otherwise.

Trait Implementations

Panics

This function may panic if the resulting point in time cannot be represented by the underlying data structure. See Instant::checked_add for a version without panic.

The resulting type after applying the + operator.

Performs the += operation. Read more

Returns a copy of the value. Read more

Performs copy-assignment from source. Read more

Formats the value using the given formatter. Read more

Feeds this value into the given Hasher. Read more

Feeds a slice of this type into the given Hasher. Read more

This method returns an Ordering between self and other. Read more

Compares and returns the maximum of two values. Read more

Compares and returns the minimum of two values. Read more

Restrict a value to a certain interval. Read more

This method tests for self and other values to be equal, and is used by ==. Read more

This method tests for !=.

This method returns an ordering between self and other values if one exists. Read more

This method tests less than (for self and other) and is used by the < operator. Read more

This method tests less than or equal to (for self and other) and is used by the <= operator. Read more

This method tests greater than (for self and other) and is used by the > operator. Read more

This method tests greater than or equal to (for self and other) and is used by the >= operator. Read more

The resulting type after applying the - operator.

Performs the - operation. Read more

The resulting type after applying the - operator.

Performs the - operation. Read more

Performs the -= operation. Read more

Auto Trait Implementations

Blanket Implementations

Gets the TypeId of self. Read more

Immutably borrows from an owned value. Read more

Mutably borrows from an owned value. Read more

Performs the conversion.

Performs the conversion.

The resulting type after obtaining ownership.

Creates owned data from borrowed data, usually by cloning. Read more

🔬 This is a nightly-only experimental API. (toowned_clone_into #41263)

Uses borrowed data to replace owned data, usually by cloning. Read more

The type returned in the event of a conversion error.

Performs the conversion.

The type returned in the event of a conversion error.

Performs the conversion.