QueryPerformanceCounter function (profileapi.h)

Article
02/22/2024

Retrieves the current value of the performance counter, which is a high resolution (<1us) time stamp that can be used for time-interval measurements.

Syntax

BOOL QueryPerformanceCounter(
  [out] LARGE_INTEGER *lpPerformanceCount
);

Parameters

[out] lpPerformanceCount

A pointer to a variable that receives the current performance-counter value, in counts.

Return value

If the function succeeds, the return value is nonzero.

If the function fails, the return value is zero. To get extended error information, call GetLastError. On systems that run Windows XP or later, the function will always succeed and will thus never return zero.

Remarks

For more info about this function and its usage, see Acquiring high-resolution time stamps.

Examples

// Gets the current number of ticks from QueryPerformanceCounter. Throws an
// exception if the call to QueryPerformanceCounter fails.
static inline int64_t GetTicks()
{
    LARGE_INTEGER ticks;
    if (!QueryPerformanceCounter(&ticks))
    {
        winrt::throw_last_error();
    }
    return ticks.QuadPart;
}

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps \| UWP apps]
Minimum supported server	Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps \| UWP apps]
Target Platform	Windows
Header	profileapi.h (include Windows.h)
Library	Kernel32.lib
DLL	Kernel32.dll