How to get a microtime in Node.js?

Question

How can I get the most accurate time stamp in Node.js?

ps My version of Node.js is 0.8.X and the node-microtime extension doesn\'t work for me (crash on install)

Answer 1

The BigInt data type is supported since Node.js 10.7.0. (see also the blog post announcement). For these supported versions of Node.js, the process.hrtime([time]) method is now regarded as 'legacy', replaced by the process.hrtime.bigint() method.

The bigint version of the process.hrtime() method returning the current high-resolution real time in a bigint.

const start = process.hrtime.bigint();
// 191051479007711n

setTimeout(() => {
  const end = process.hrtime.bigint();
  // 191052633396993n

  console.log(`Benchmark took ${end - start} nanoseconds`);
  // Benchmark took 1154389282 nanoseconds
}, 1000);

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tl;dr

• Node.js 10.7.0+ - Use process.hrtime.bigint()
• Otherwise - Use process.hrtime()