Of course! Here is a comprehensive guide to importing and using the time module in Python.

The Basic Import

To use the time module, you first need to import it into your script.

import time

This is the standard and most common way to import the module. It gives you access to all the functions and constants within the time namespace.

Key Functions and Their Uses

The time module provides several functions for working with time. Here are the most important ones, categorized by their primary use case.

A) For Getting the Current Time

These functions are used to get a representation of the current moment.

Example:

import time
# Get seconds since the epoch (a large float)
seconds_since_epoch = time.time()
print(f"Seconds since epoch: {seconds_since_epoch}")
# Get a human-readable string
current_time_str = time.ctime()
print(f"Current time (string): {current_time_str}")
# Get a structured time object for the local time
local_time_struct = time.localtime()
print(f"Current time (struct): {local_time_struct}")
print(f"Year: {local_time_struct.tm_year}")
print(f"Month: {local_time_struct.tm_mon}")
print(f"Hour: {local_time_struct.tm_hour}")

B) For Formatting Time

These functions convert a time representation (like seconds since the epoch or a struct_time) into a formatted string.

Common Format Codes:

• %Y: 4-digit year (e.g., 2025)
• %m: 2-digit month (01-12)
• %d: 2-digit day (01-31)
• %H: 2-digit hour (00-23)
• %M: 2-digit minute (00-59)
• %S: 2-digit second (00-59)
• %A: Full weekday name (e.g., Monday)
• %B: Full month name (e.g., January)

Example:

import time
# Get the current time as a struct_time
now = time.localtime()
# Format it into a custom string
formatted_time = time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", now)
print(f"Formatted time: {formatted_time}")
# Format it with a different style
readable_time = time.strftime("%A, %B %d, %Y", now)
print(f"Readable time: {readable_time}")
# --- The reverse: parsing a string ---
time_string = "2025-10-27 15:30:00"
time_struct = time.strptime(time_string, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
print(f"Parsed struct_time: {time_struct}")

C) For Program Pausing (Sleeping)

This is a very common and simple function.

Example:

import time
print("Starting...")
print("Waiting for 2 seconds.")
time.sleep(2)  # Pauses the program here for 2 seconds
print("Done waiting!")

D) For Measuring Elapsed Time

This is one of the most frequent uses of the time module, especially for benchmarking code performance.

Method 1: Using time.time()

import time
start_time = time.time()
# --- Code you want to measure ---
total = 0
for i in range(1000000):
    total += i
# ---
end_time = time.time()
elapsed_time = end_time - start_time
print(f"Elapsed time: {elapsed_time:.6f} seconds")

Method 2: Using time.perf_counter() (Recommended for performance measurement)

perf_counter() provides a high-resolution monotonic clock, which is perfect for measuring short durations. It's not affected by system clock changes.

import time
start_time = time.perf_counter()
# --- Code you want to measure ---
squares = [i*i for i in range(1000000)]
# ---
end_time = time.perf_counter()
elapsed_time = end_time - start_time
print(f"Elapsed time: {elapsed_time:.6f} seconds")

time vs. datetime Module

You will often see the datetime module used alongside time. It's important to know the difference.

When to use which:

• Use time when:
  • You need to measure the performance of a piece of code (time.perf_counter()).
  • You need to pause a script (time.sleep()).
  • You are interfacing with low-level system APIs that require timestamps.
• Use datetime when:
  • You need to perform arithmetic on dates (e.g., add 5 days to a date).
  • You need to compare two dates or times.
  • You need to work with timezones.
  • You want a more object-oriented approach to dates and times.

Summary

For quick reference, here is a cheat sheet of the most common time module operations:

import time
# 1. Get current time in different formats
print("--- Getting Time ---")
print(f"Seconds since epoch: {time.time()}")
print(f"Current time (string): {time.ctime()}")
print(f"Current time (struct): {time.localtime()}")
# 2. Format time
print("\n--- Formatting Time ---")
now = time.localtime()
formatted = time.strftime("%H:%M:%S on %A, %B %d, %Y", now)
print(f"Formatted: {formatted}")
# 3. Pause execution
print("\n--- Pausing Execution ---")
print("Starting...")
time.sleep(1)
print("1 second later...")
time.sleep(1)
print("Done.")
# 4. Measure elapsed time
print("\n--- Measuring Elapsed Time ---")
start = time.perf_counter()
# Do some work
sum(range(1000000))
end = time.perf_counter()
print(f"Code took {end - start:.4f} seconds to run.")