PAPI_get_virt_usec(3)

✨ PAPI_get_virt_usec(3) — like, the PAPI manual, bestie ✨

okay so this is a page from the PAPI manual (that's the library name, bestie, we're in PAPI land 💅) and today we're talking about PAPI_get_virt_usec — getting your virtual time counter values in microseconds. let's go 🫶

---

🎀 NAME 🎀

PAPI_get_virt_usec — get virtual time counter values in microseconds ✨

---

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

💜 Detailed Description 💜

okay so here's the whole vibe: this function returns the total number of virtual units from some arbitrary starting point (yes, arbitrary — she doesn't tell you where she started, that's just her vibe 😭).

and like, virtual units accrue every time the process is running in user-mode on behalf of the process. that's the whole thing.

and here's the slay part — like the real time counters, this count is guaranteed to exist on every platform PAPI supports. no cap. every single one. 🔥

⚠️ but bestie… on some platforms, the resolution can be as bad as 1/Hz as defined by the operating system. like, as bad as 1/Hz. the way that's genuinely tragic. 💀 just know it going in.

😭 Return values 😭

• PAPI_ECNFLCT — this one hits if there is no master event set. when does that happen? if the library has not been initialized, or — for threaded applications — if there has been no thread id function defined by the PAPI_thread_init function. so like, go define that, bestie 🙈
• PAPI_ENOMEM — for threaded applications: if there has not yet been any thread specific master event created for the current thread, and if the allocation of such an event set fails, the call will return PAPI_ENOMEM or PAPI_ESYS. both. either. she's flexible. 💅

---

🦋 Examples 🦋

here's the iconic little snippet, presented exactly as-is because we do not mess with code:

s = PAPI_get_virt_cyc();
your_slow_code();
e = PAPI_get_virt_cyc();
printf("Process has run for cycles: %lld\en",e-s);

(yes, it calls PAPI_get_virt_cyc() in the example on the PAPI_get_virt_usec page — that's just how the source code said it, and I am not touching it, periodt. 🎀)

---

🌈 See also 🌈

• PAPIF
• PAPI
• PAPI
• PAPI_get_real_cyc
• PAPI_get_virt_cyc

(yes, PAPI is listed twice. she said "and also me" twice. main character energy. 👑)

---

🍓 Author 🍓

Generated automatically by Doxygen for PAPI from the source code. not a human, not a vibe, just a robot doing her little documentation thing 🤖✨

---

Version 7.2.0.0 — dated Wed Jun 25 2025 19:30:48, and that's the footer, bestie, so we're done here 💖

okay bye, go measure your virtual microseconds, ily 🧚💜