Get function passed as an argument name inside another function

September 21, 2023

I am trying to measure elapse time for different functions with simple method like this:

def taketime(executable,exname='method'):
    tic = time.time()
    exname = executable.__name__
    out = executable
    toc = time.time()
    print('Time taken for ',exname,' ',toc-tic,' sec')
    return out

Executable is another method, can be whatever. Nevertheless, the program does not work as the line exname = executable.__name__ is actually already running executable and trying to get the property name from the output.

What is the correct way to get the name of the executable passed to another function?

Small test program (not working):

import time
def taketime(executable,exname=None):
    tic = time.time()
    if exname is None: exname = executable.__name__
    out = executable
    toc = time.time()
    print('Time taken for ',exname,' ',toc-tic,' sec')
    return out
# -----------------------------------------
def hello():
    print('Hello!')
    return
dd = taketime(hello())

Of course it works when I do this:
dd = taketime(hello(),'hello')

>Solution :

You are calling the target function before it is passed into your taketime() function. Also, you don’t call anything inside your function either. You meant to write your code like this:

import time
def taketime(executable, *args, **kwargs):
    exname = executable.__name__
    tic = time.time()
    out = executable(*args, **kwargs)
    toc = time.time()
    print('Time taken for ',exname,' ',toc-tic,' sec')
    return out
# -----------------------------------------
def hello():
    print('Hello!')
    return
dd = taketime(hello)

Note that: