time
time is a Linux command in the Date & Time category, rated intermediate difficulty. Measures the execution time of a command (real, user, sys). The syntax is time [options] command. Key options and parameters: command — command to time. It returns execution time statistics. A practical example: time ls -la /usr/bin # real 0m0.032s, user 0m0.012s, sys 0m0.020s time python3 script.py A close relative is date, which displays or sets the system date and time. A close relative is cal, which displays a calendar in the terminal. A close relative is sleep, which delays execution for a specified amount of time. More about this category: Linux date and time commands — date, cal, timedatectl, and more. View and set system date and time. Related Date & Time commands: date, cal, sleep, crontab, at, hwclock, timedatectl, ntpdate. This page is part of the free Linux Reference documentation covering 304+ commands, each with syntax, options, practical examples, and a difficulty rating.