pygame.time

pygame module for monitoring time

pygame.time.get_ticks	—	get the time in milliseconds
pygame.time.wait	—	pause the program for an amount of time
pygame.time.delay	—	pause the program for an amount of time
pygame.time.set_timer	—	repeatedly create an event on the event queue
pygame.time.Clock	—	create an object to help track time

Times in pygame are represented in milliseconds (1/1000 seconds). Most platforms have a limited time resolution of around 10 milliseconds. This resolution, in milliseconds, is given in the TIMER_RESOLUTION constant.

pygame.time.get_ticks()

get the time in milliseconds

get_ticks() -> milliseconds

Return the number of milliseconds since pygame.init() was called. Before pygame is initialized this will always be 0.

pygame.time.wait()

pause the program for an amount of time

wait(milliseconds) -> time

Will pause for a given number of milliseconds. This function sleeps the process to share the processor with other programs. A program that waits for even a few milliseconds will consume very little processor time. It is slightly less accurate than the pygame.time.delay() function.

This returns the actual number of milliseconds used.

pygame.time.delay()

pause the program for an amount of time

delay(milliseconds) -> time

Will pause for a given number of milliseconds. This function will use the processor (rather than sleeping) in order to make the delay more accurate than pygame.time.wait().

This returns the actual number of milliseconds used.

pygame.time.set_timer()

repeatedly create an event on the event queue

set_timer(event, millis) -> None

set_timer(event, millis, loops=0) -> None

Set an event to appear on the event queue every given number of milliseconds. The first event will not appear until the amount of time has passed.

The event attribute can be a pygame.event.Event object or an integer type that denotes an event.

loops is an integer that denotes the number of events posted. If 0 (default) then the events will keep getting posted, unless explicitly stopped.

To disable the timer for such an event, call the function again with the same event argument with millis argument set to 0.

It is also worth mentioning that a particular event type can only be put on a timer once. In other words, there cannot be two timers for the same event type. Setting an event timer for a particular event discards the old one for that event type.

loops replaces the once argument, and this does not break backward compatability

New in pygame 2.0.0.dev3: once argument added.

Changed in pygame 2.0.1: event argument supports pygame.event.Event object

New in pygame 2.0.1: added loops argument to replace once argument

pygame.time.Clock

create an object to help track time

Clock() -> Clock

pygame.time.Clock.tick	—	update the clock
pygame.time.Clock.tick_busy_loop	—	update the clock
pygame.time.Clock.get_time	—	time used in the previous tick
pygame.time.Clock.get_rawtime	—	actual time used in the previous tick
pygame.time.Clock.get_fps	—	compute the clock framerate

Creates a new Clock object that can be used to track an amount of time. The clock also provides several functions to help control a game's framerate.

tick()

update the clock

tick(framerate=0) -> milliseconds

This method should be called once per frame. It will compute how many milliseconds have passed since the previous call.

If you pass the optional framerate argument the function will delay to keep the game running slower than the given ticks per second. This can be used to help limit the runtime speed of a game. By calling Clock.tick(40) once per frame, the program will never run at more than 40 frames per second.

Note that this function uses SDL_Delay function which is not accurate on every platform, but does not use much CPU. Use tick_busy_loop if you want an accurate timer, and don't mind chewing CPU.

tick_busy_loop()

update the clock

tick_busy_loop(framerate=0) -> milliseconds

This method should be called once per frame. It will compute how many milliseconds have passed since the previous call.

If you pass the optional framerate argument the function will delay to keep the game running slower than the given ticks per second. This can be used to help limit the runtime speed of a game. By calling Clock.tick_busy_loop(40) once per frame, the program will never run at more than 40 frames per second.

Note that this function uses pygame.time.delay()pause the program for an amount of time, which uses lots of CPU in a busy loop to make sure that timing is more accurate.

New in pygame 1.8.

get_time()

time used in the previous tick

get_time() -> milliseconds

The number of milliseconds that passed between the previous two calls to Clock.tick().

get_rawtime()

actual time used in the previous tick

get_rawtime() -> milliseconds

Similar to Clock.get_time(), but does not include any time used while Clock.tick() was delaying to limit the framerate.

get_fps()

compute the clock framerate

get_fps() -> float

Compute your game's framerate (in frames per second). It is computed by averaging the last ten calls to Clock.tick().

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