The profile Module

The profile module is the standard Python profiler.

Like the disassembler and the debugger, you can run the profiler from the command line:

$ profile.py hello.py

hello again, and welcome to the show

 3 function calls in 0.785 CPU seconds

 Ordered by: standard name

 ncalls tottime percall cumtime percall filename:lineno(function)
 1 0.001 0.001 0.002 0.002 :1(?)
 1 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001 hello.py:1(?)
 1 0.783 0.783 0.785 0.785 profile:0(execfile('hello.py'))
 0 0.000 0.000 profile:0(profiler)

It can also be used to profile part of a program, as Example 11-4 shows.

Example 11-4. Using the profile Module

File: profile-example-1.py

import profile

def func1():
 for i in range(1000):
 pass

def func2():
 for i in range(1000):
 func1()

profile.run("func2()")

 1003 function calls in 2.380 CPU seconds

 Ordered by: standard name

 ncalls tottime percall cumtime percall filename:lineno(function)
 1 0.000 0.000 2.040 2.040 :1(?)
 1000 1.950 0.002 1.950 0.002 profile-example-1.py:3(func1)
 1 0.090 0.090 2.040 2.040 profile-example-1.py:7(func2)
 1 0.340 0.340 2.380 2.380 profile:0(func2())
 0 0.000 0.000 profile:0(profiler)

You can modify the report to suit your needs, via the pstats module.