{"name":"time","title":"time","type":"command","url":"https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/time","revid":379479,"updated":"2026-10-31T00:12:00Z","groups":["Time","Mission Information"],"status":"ok","games":{"ofp":"1.00","ofpe":"1.00","arma1":"1.00","arma2":"1.00","arma2oa":"1.50","tkoh":"1.00","arma3":"0.50"},"since":"ofp 1.00","arma3_since":"0.50","description":"Returns time elapsed since mission started (in seconds). The value is different on each client. If you need unified time, use serverTime. Unlike uiTime the time stops when game is paused.","syntaxes":[{"syntax":"time","params":[],"returns":{"type":"Number","type_expr":"Number"},"form":"nullary"}],"examples":[{"code":["private _future = time + 30;\nwaitUntil { time >= _future };  // continue after 30 seconds"]},{"text":"Wait until mission fully started:\n\n```sqf\nwaitUntil { time > 0 };\n```","code":["waitUntil { time > 0 };"]}],"see_also":["uiTime","sleep","date","dayTime","serverTime","skipTime","accTime","dateToNumber","timeMultiplier","setTimeMultiplier","missionStart","diag_tickTime","diag_deltaTime","systemTime","systemTimeUTC","BIS_fnc_timeToString"],"notes":[{"user":"Hardrock","date":"2006-08-04T12:02:00Z","text":"*Notes from before the conversion:*\nNot to be confused with the **SQS** variable *_time*. Within an **SQS** script, the reserved local variable *_time* returns the time elapsed since the script started running. Note that the value of _time is not saved when the mission is saved and so will be reset to zero when a mission is restarted from a saved position. The value of time is saved correctly and will resume from where it was.\n\n*_time* has only special meaning in SQS scripts, in SQF script it is just another variable. --Killzone_Kid"},{"user":"Giova","date":"2007-01-05T12:24:00Z","text":"*Notes from before the conversion:*\ntime works properly in sqf called with execVM command. In an other hand, _time does not works in sqf called with execVM command.(Arma v1.02.5103GER)"},{"user":"TeaCup","date":"2010-10-02T12:02:00Z","text":"On overloaded servers (below ~10 server FPS), time readings are unreliable. Seconds actually take longer. While the clients keep a steady tempo, server time lags behind, resulting in considerable offset between client and server time (easily 30 minutes for a 2 hour game). Client time is synchronised to server time during JIP, but other than that it runs independently."},{"user":"Dr_Eyeball","date":"2013-10-30T00:00:00Z","text":"**Arma 3 JIP bug:**\nAs of Arma 3 v1.02, for JIP clients 'time' value will start off counting from 0, not the real 'time' value. After about 2.5sec (on average), it will then jump to a high value and synchronise with the real 'time' value, which could be 900, for example.\n\nTherefore, do not use 'time' for any start of mission init timeouts; it is unreliable. (It's odd that it doesn't synchronise at the same time as public variables.)"},{"user":"Demellion","date":"2016-09-01T18:18:00Z","text":"**In MP**: Since per-client time and server time is unconsistant I strongly recommend execution of time-critical tasks from server-side scripts and with remoteExec or remoteExecCall (**Since only A3 1.50** alternative may be publicVariableClient with pre-defined handler) as this will eliminate any time calculation lags and make it reliable."}]}