How to use stopwatch in PowerShell?

To use the stopwatch in PowerShell, we need to use [System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch] class.

We will create a new object for this class,

$stopwatch = [System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch]::new()

Below are the members of the above stopwatch mentioned class.

PS C:\> $Stopwatch | gm


TypeName: System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch

Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
Equals Method bool Equals(System.Object obj)
GetHashCode Method int GetHashCode()
GetType Method type GetType()
Reset Method void Reset()
Restart Method void Restart()
Start Method void Start()
Stop Method void Stop()
ToString Method string ToString()
Elapsed Property timespan Elapsed {get;}
ElapsedMilliseconds Property long ElapsedMilliseconds {get;}
ElapsedTicks Property long ElapsedTicks {get;}
IsRunning Property bool IsRunning {get;}

You can see above that you can Start, Stop, Restart, and Reset the stopwatch and before starting all values should be 0.

PS C:\> $Stopwatch.Elapsed

Days : 0
Hours : 0
Minutes : 0
Seconds : 0
Milliseconds : 0
Ticks : 0
TotalDays : 0
TotalHours : 0
TotalMinutes : 0
TotalSeconds : 0
TotalMilliseconds : 0

Now, we will start the timer using the Start() method.

$Stopwatch.Start()

You can check the elapsed time using the Elapsed property.

PS C:\> $Stopwatch.Elapsed

Days : 0
Hours : 0
Minutes : 1
Seconds : 42
Milliseconds : 284
Ticks : 1022842838
TotalDays : 0.00118384587731481
TotalHours : 0.0284123010555556
TotalMinutes : 1.70473806333333
TotalSeconds : 102.2842838
TotalMilliseconds : 102284.2838

To retrieve any of the above property, use the property name. For example,

Example

PS C:\> $Stopwatch.Elapsed.Minutes
4

To stop the stopwatch use Stop(), to Reset the Stopwatch use Reset() methods, and to restart the stopwatch use Restart() method.

PS C:\> $Stopwatch.Reset()
PS C:\> $Stopwatch.Elapsed

Days : 0
Hours : 0
Minutes : 0
Seconds : 0
Milliseconds : 0
Ticks : 0
TotalDays : 0
TotalHours : 0
TotalMinutes : 0
TotalSeconds : 0
TotalMilliseconds : 0

PS C:\> $Stopwatch.Restart()
PS C:\> $Stopwatch.Elapsed

Days : 0
Hours : 0
Minutes : 0
Seconds : 1
Milliseconds : 757
Ticks : 17570261
TotalDays : 2.03359502314815E-05
TotalHours : 0.000488062805555556
TotalMinutes : 0.0292837683333333
TotalSeconds : 1.7570261
TotalMilliseconds : 1757.0261

PS C:\> $Stopwatch.Stop()
PS C:\> $Stopwatch.Elapsed

Days : 0
Hours : 0
Minutes : 6
Seconds : 36
Milliseconds : 121
Ticks : 3961214918
TotalDays : 0.00458473948842593
TotalHours : 0.110033747722222
TotalMinutes : 6.60202486333333
TotalSeconds : 396.1214918
TotalMilliseconds : 396121.4918