How to figure out how long a batch file is running?

What come to mind as a real down 'n dirty way to accomplish what you are trying to do, and this is to know how long a batch file ran for, is to create a blank dummy file at the begging of the batch file run and then at the end create another. You'll have a time stamp on the two files, the difference between the two times will give you the measurement you are looking for. Not a fancy way to get he job done, but it might save you a lot of time trying to find it. Something like this can be done to accomplish : at the beginning of the batch file - dir > start.txt at the end of the batch - dir > stop.txt The grass may not be greener on the other side but might have less weeds... Web Based Desktop Support Software

Sorry but that won't work because the the FILE is supposed to tell you how long it runs. I can't go and check two blank files to see the amount of time! But thanks for trying to help...

Batch is not good for a lot of things, timedate math being one of them. The best bet would be to get a program that times how long a process runs, and use that. VBScript/JScript let you use WMI to get an approximate run time. With WIn7, you have access to PowerShell, so you should be able to get the exact start/stop time, but I'm unsure how difficult it would be. How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

sorry but the program has already been written up... I'm not gonna rewrite in in a language i don't know....

for random number, use this set number=%random:~0,2% it will give you numbers between 0-99. For the time Comparision, As Razor said cmd is not a good way to go about. Since you decided to go for it, here is a bad way. step 1 : create a timer.bat in the same folder where you original batch is ===================================== ::timer.bat @echo off set _time=1 :1 echo %_time% >timer.txt ping -w 1 4.1.2.3 -n 1 >nul set /a _time=_time+1 goto 1 :: ============================================= step 2. at the first line of your original batch file, call this batch and let it run minimize, start /n i mean step 3. this batch file will keep writing the current progress in seconds in the same folder as timer.txt (Can change to a variable instead if you want to) step 4. at the last line of your batch, read timer.txt from the same foler, it will have the correct time in second till the time batch was running. step5. At the end you might have to call a taskkill /im cmd.exe /f to kill all the running batch files, i dont see an option to kill this particular instance until you are gonna use Vbscript. Shoot back your question if any. - Subhash  Monthly giveaway -  Must have Online safety Guide

In batch: SET /A Random_Number_1_to_100=%RANDOM% %%100 + 1 Command line test: SET /A %RANDOM% %100 + 1 When your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.