profile(TCLX)

profile(TCLX)


profile -- collect performance profile of a Tcl script

Syntax

profile [-commands] on" "profile off arrayVar

Description

This command is used to collect a performance profile of a Tcl script. It collects data at the Tcl procedure level. The number of calls to a procedure, and the amount of real and CPU time are collected. Time is also collected for the global context. The procedure data is collected by bucketing it based on the procedure call stack. This allows determination of how much time is spent in a particular procedure in each of its calling contexts.

The on option enables profile data collection. If the -commands option is specified, data on all commands within a procedure is collected. Multiple occurrences of a command within a procedure are not distinguished, but this data may still be useful for analysis.

The off option turns off profiling and moves the data collected to the array arrayVar. The array is addressed by a list containing the procedure call stack. Element zero is the top of the stack, the procedure the data is for. The data in each entry is a list consisting of the procedure call count and the real time and CPU time in milliseconds spent in the procedure (and all procedures it called). The list is in the form:

{count real cpu}

A Tcl procedure profrep is supplied for reducing the data and producing a report.

See also