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Devel::DProf

Devel::DProf(3)        Perl Programmers Reference Guide        Devel::DProf(3)



NAME
       Devel::DProf - a Perl code profiler

SYNOPSIS
               perl5 -d:DProf test.pl

DESCRIPTION
       The Devel::DProf package is a Perl code profiler.  This will collect
       information on the execution time of a Perl script and of the subs in
       that script.  This information can be used to determine which subrou-
       tines are using the most time and which subroutines are being called
       most often.  This information can also be used to create an execution
       graph of the script, showing subroutine relationships.

       To profile a Perl script run the perl interpreter with the -d debugging
       switch.  The profiler uses the debugging hooks.  So to profile script
       test.pl the following command should be used:

               perl5 -d:DProf test.pl

       When the script terminates (or when the output buffer is filled) the
       profiler will dump the profile information to a file called tmon.out.
       A tool like dprofpp can be used to interpret the information which is
       in that profile.  The following command will print the top 15 subrou-
       tines which used the most time:

               dprofpp

       To print an execution graph of the subroutines in the script use the
       following command:

               dprofpp -T

       Consult dprofpp for other options.

PROFILE FORMAT
       The old profile is a text file which looks like this:

               #fOrTyTwO
               $hz=100;
               $XS_VERSION='DProf 19970606';
               # All values are given in HZ
               $rrun_utime=2; $rrun_stime=0; $rrun_rtime=7
               PART2
               + 26 28 566822884 DynaLoader::import
               - 26 28 566822884 DynaLoader::import
               + 27 28 566822885 main::bar
               - 27 28 566822886 main::bar
               + 27 28 566822886 main::baz
               + 27 28 566822887 main::bar
               - 27 28 566822888 main::bar
               [....]

       The first line is the magic number.  The second line is the hertz
       value, or clock ticks, of the machine where the profile was collected.
       The third line is the name and version identifier of the tool which
       created the profile.  The fourth line is a comment.  The fifth line
       contains three variables holding the user time, system time, and real-
       time of the process while it was being profiled.  The sixth line indi-
       cates the beginning of the sub entry/exit profile section.

       The columns in PART2 are:

               sub entry(+)/exit(-) mark
               app's user time at sub entry/exit mark, in ticks
               app's system time at sub entry/exit mark, in ticks
               app's realtime at sub entry/exit mark, in ticks
               fully-qualified sub name, when possible

       With newer perls another format is used, which may look like this:

               #fOrTyTwO
               $hz=10000;
               $XS_VERSION='DProf 19971213';
               # All values are given in HZ
               $over_utime=5917; $over_stime=0; $over_rtime=5917;
               $over_tests=10000;
               $rrun_utime=1284; $rrun_stime=0; $rrun_rtime=1284;
               $total_marks=6;

               PART2
               @ 406 0 406
               & 2 main bar
               + 2
               @ 456 0 456
               - 2
               @ 1 0 1
               & 3 main baz
               + 3
               @ 141 0 141
               + 2
               @ 141 0 141
               - 2
               @ 1 0 1
               & 4 main foo
               + 4
               @ 142 0 142
               + & Devel::DProf::write
               @ 5 0 5
               - & Devel::DProf::write

       (with high value of $ENV{PERL_DPROF_TICKS}).

       New "$over_*" values show the measured overhead of making $over_tests
       calls to the profiler These values are used by the profiler to subtract
       the overhead from the runtimes.

       The lines starting with "@" mark time passed from the previous "@"
       line.  The lines starting with "&" introduce new subroutine id and show
       the package and the subroutine name of this id.  Lines starting with
       "+", "-" and "*" mark entering and exit of subroutines by ids, and
       "goto &subr".

       The old-style "+"- and "-"-lines are used to mark the overhead related
       to writing to profiler-output file.

AUTOLOAD
       When Devel::DProf finds a call to an &AUTOLOAD subroutine it looks at
       the $AUTOLOAD variable to find the real name of the sub being called.
       See "Autoloading" in perlsub.

ENVIRONMENT
       "PERL_DPROF_BUFFER" sets size of output buffer in words.  Defaults to
       2**14.

       "PERL_DPROF_TICKS" sets number of ticks per second on some systems
       where a replacement for times() is used.  Defaults to the value of "HZ"
       macro.

       "PERL_DPROF_OUT_FILE_NAME" sets the name of the output file.  If not
       set, defaults to tmon.out.

BUGS
       Builtin functions cannot be measured by Devel::DProf.

       With a newer Perl DProf relies on the fact that the numeric slot of
       $DB::sub contains an address of a subroutine.  Excessive manipulation
       of this variable may overwrite this slot, as in

         $DB::sub = 'current_sub';
         ...
         $addr = $DB::sub + 0;

       will set this numeric slot to numeric value of the string "cur-
       rent_sub", i.e., to 0.  This will cause a segfault on the exit from
       this subroutine.  Note that the first assignment above does not change
       the numeric slot (it will mark it as invalid, but will not write over
       it).

       Another problem is that if a subroutine exits using goto(LABEL),
       last(LABEL) or next(LABEL) then perl may crash or Devel::DProf will die
       with the error:

          panic: Devel::DProf inconsistent subroutine return

       For example, this code will break under Devel::DProf:

          sub foo {
            last FOO;
          }
          FOO: {
            foo();
          }

       A pattern like this is used by Test::More's skip() function, for exam-
       ple.  See perldiag for more details.

       Mail bug reports and feature requests to the perl5-porters mailing list
       at <perl5-porters@perl.org>.

SEE ALSO
       perl, dprofpp, times(2)



perl v5.8.6                       2001-09-21                   Devel::DProf(3)