# love.timer.getTime

Returns the value of a timer with an unspecified starting time. This function should only be used to calculate differences between points in time, as the starting time of the timer is unknown.

## Function

### Synopsis

    time= love.timer.getTime( )

### Arguments

None.

### Returns

`number time`
  The time in seconds.

## Examples

### Checking how long something takes

    foo = ""
    local stime = love.timer.getTime()

    for i=1,1000 do
    	foo = foo .. "bar"
    end

    local etime = love.timer.getTime()
    print(string.format("It took %.3f milliseconds to concatenate 'bar' 1000 times!", 1000 * (etime - stime)))

## See Also

- love.timer
- love.timer.getMicroTime

##

Category:

- Functions