All about ${__time()} function in jmeter

We all have to deal with Date and time in our script, and thankfully jmeter has one inbuilt function which we can use in many cases, but sometimes we also need to use Beanshell for getting future or Past dates. this blog is all about how differently you can use jmeter time function.

Main thing we all have to consider is that ${__time()} function takes current date and time of local machine, i.e. on whichever Load Generator machine you are executing a test, it will take local time of that machine. So you also need to consider time difference, if any, of Load Generator machine and your servers. 

Below is few examples of time function:

Note: below function was executed on 30th May 2017 12:56:29 PM

Function	Output	Description
${__time()}	1496127516340	Current time in milliseconds
${__time(dd)}	30	It will extract current date
${__time(MM)}	05	It will extract current month
${__time(MMM)}	May	It will extract current month
${__time(yy)}/ ${__time(yy)}	17	It will extract current year but with two decimal values
${__time(yyyy)}/ ${__time(YYYY)}	2017	It will extract current year but with four decimal values
${__time(YMD)}/ ${__time(yyyyMMdd)}	20170530	Extract year month and date together without any differentiation in between
${__time(yyMMdd)}	170530	Extract year month and date together without any differentiation in between
${__time(dd-MM-yyyy)}	30-05-2017	Extract year month and date together with delimiter (-) in between
${__time(MM/dd/yyyy)}	05/30/2017	Extract year month and date together with delimiter (/) in between
${__time(HH)}/ ${__time(hh)}	12	Extract current time (only hours) NOTE: Capital H gives time in 24 hours format and small h gives time in 12 hour format
${__time(mm)}	56	Extract current time (only Minutes)
${__time(ss)}	29	Extract current time (only Seconds)
${__time(HHmmss)}/ ${__time(HMS)}	125629	Extract current time with hours, minutes and seconds but without any delimiter
${__time(HH:mm:ss)}	12:56:29	Extract current time with hours, minutes and seconds but with delimiter ( : )
${__time(dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm:ss)}	30-05-2017 12:56:29	Extract date and time together
${__time(dd-MM-yyyy hh:mm:ss a)}	30-05-2017 12:56:29 PM	Extract date and time together with AM or PM
${__time(dd-MM-yyyy'T'hh:mm:ss a)}	30-05-2017T12:56:29PM	Extract date and time together with T in-between

But there are many cases where you need to take either future date or Past date, during that time we cannot use time function. We have to use beanshell for getting such data. Below is few example of extracting future date/Past date using beanshell.

import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;

import java.util.Date;

int DaysCount = 5; //this variable needs to be customized as per your need

Date date = new Date();

date.setDate(date.getDate() + DaysCount);

SimpleDateFormat df  = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");

String formattedDate = df.format(date);

vars.put("FutureDate",formattedDate);

//Futuredate is your jmeter variable

For time function as well sometimes we need to take past time or future time. Below is function which can be used for extracting past/future timings

import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;

import java.util.Calendar;

import java.util.Date;

 int AddSeconds= 00; //this variable needs to be customized as per your need

int AddMinutes= 05; //this variable needs to be customized as per your need

int AddHours= 05; //this variable needs to be customized as per your need

 Date now         = new Date();

Calendar c       = Calendar.getInstance();

c.setTime(now);

c.add(Calendar.SECOND, AddSeconds);

c.add(Calendar.MINUTE, AddMinutes);

c.add(Calendar.HOUR,   AddHours);

Date NewTime        = c.getTime();

SimpleDateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat("HH:mm:ss");

String mytime       = df.format(NewTime);

vars.put("NewTime",mytime);

// NewTime is your jmeter variable

You can use both Date and time beanshell together as per your requirement.

Please feel free to comment your doubts and questions.