Calculating Time Difference

Question

at the start and end of my program, I have

from time import strftime print int(strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")    Y1=int(strftime("%Y")) m1=int(strftime("%m")) d1=int(strftime("%d")) H1=int(strftime("%H")) M1=int(strftime("%M")) S1=int(strftime("%S"))   Y2=int(strftime("%Y")) m2=int(strftime("%m")) d2=int(strftime("%d")) H2=int(strftime("%H")) M2=int(strftime("%M")) S2=int(strftime("%S"))  print "Difference is:"+str(Y2-Y1)+":"+str(m2-m1)+":"+str(d2-d1)\           +" "+str(H2-H1)+":"+str(M2-M1)+":"+str(S2-S1) 

But when I tried to get the difference, I get syntax errors.... I am doing a few things wrong, but I'm not sure what is going on...

Basically, I just want to store a time in a variable at the start of my program, then store a 2nd time in a second variable near the end, then at the last bit of the program, compute the difference and display it. I am not trying to time a function speed. I am trying to log how long it took for a user to progress through some menus. What is the best way to do this?

Answer 1

The datetime module will do all the work for you:

>>> import datetime >>> a = datetime.datetime.now() >>> # ...wait a while... >>> b = datetime.datetime.now() >>> print(b-a) 0:03:43.984000 

If you don't want to display the microseconds, just use (as gnibbler suggested):

>>> a = datetime.datetime.now().replace(microsecond=0) >>> b = datetime.datetime.now().replace(microsecond=0) >>> print(b-a) 0:03:43