get_cyclecount(9)

NAME

get_cyclecount - get the CPU's fast counter register con
tents

SYNOPSIS

#include <sys/param.h>
#include <sys/systm.h>
#include <machine/cpu.h>
u_int64_t
get_cyclecount(void);

DESCRIPTION

The get_cyclecount() function uses a register available in
most modern
CPUs to return a value that is monotonically increasing in
side each CPU.
On SMP systems, there will be a number of separate monotonic
sequences,
one for each CPU running. The value in the SMP case is se
lected from one
of these sequences, dependent on which CPU was scheduled to
service the
request.
The speed and the maximum value of each counter is CPU-de
pendent. Some
CPUs (such as the Intel 80486) do not have such a register,
so
get_cyclecount() on these platforms returns the number of
nanoseconds
represented by the structure returned by nanotime(9).
The Pentium processors all use the TSC register.
The Alpha processors use the PCC register.
The IA64 processors use the AR.ITC register.

SEE ALSO

nanotime(9)

HISTORY

The get_cyclecount() function first appeared in FreeBSD 5.0.

AUTHORS

This manual page was written by Mark Murray <markm@FreeB
SD.org>.
BSD November 20, 2000
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