PHP Conference Nagoya 2025

set_time_limit

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

set_time_limitFixe le temps maximum d'exécution d'un script

Description

set_time_limit(int $seconds): bool

Fixe le délai d'expiration d'un script, en secondes. Si cette limite est atteinte, le script s'interrompt, et renvoie une erreur fatale. La valeur par défaut est 30 secondes ou, si c'est le cas, la valeur de la directive max_execution_time définie dans le php.ini.

Lorsqu'elle est appelée, set_time_limit() remet le compteur à zéro. En d'autres termes, si la limite par défaut est à 30 secondes, et qu'après 25 secondes d'exécution du script l'appel set_time_limit(20) est fait, alors le script tournera pendant un total de 45 secondes avant de finir.

Liste de paramètres

seconds

Le temps maximal d'exécution, en secondes. S'il vaut 0, aucune limite n'est imposée.

Valeurs de retour

Retourne true en cas de succès, ou false si une erreur survient.

Notes

Note:

La fonction set_time_limit() et la directive de configuration max_execution_time n'affectent que le temps d'exécution du script lui-même. Tout temps passé en dehors du script, comme un appel système utilisant system(), des opérations sur les flux, les requêtes sur base de données, etc. n'est pas pris en compte lors du calcul de la durée maximale d'exécution du script. Ceci est faux sous Windows où le temps mesuré est le temps réel.

add a note

User Contributed Notes 16 notes

up
30
mba_aslam at yahoo dot com
17 years ago
while setting the set_time_limit(), the duration of sleep() will be ignored in the execution time. The following illustrates:

<?php

set_time_limit
(20);

while (
$i<=10)
{
echo
"i=$i ";
sleep(100);
$i++;
}

?>

Output:
i=0 i=1 i=2 i=3 i=4 i=5 i=6 i=7 i=8 i=9 i=10
up
19
kexianbin at diyism dot com
10 years ago
Both set_time_limit(...) and ini_set('max_execution_time',...); won't count the time cost of sleep,file_get_contents,shell_exec,mysql_query etc, so i build this function my_background_exec(), to run static method/function in background/detached process and time is out kill it:

my_exec.php:
<?php
function my_background_exec($function_name, $params, $str_requires, $timeout=600)
{
$map=array('"'=>'\"', '$'=>'\$', '`'=>'\`', '\\'=>'\\\\', '!'=>'\!');
$str_requires=strtr($str_requires, $map);
$path_run=dirname($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']);
$my_target_exec="/usr/bin/php -r \"chdir('{$path_run}');{$str_requires} \\\$params=json_decode(file_get_contents('php://stdin'),true);call_user_func_array('{$function_name}', \\\$params);\"";
$my_target_exec=strtr(strtr($my_target_exec, $map), $map);
$my_background_exec="(/usr/bin/php -r \"chdir('{$path_run}');{$str_requires} my_timeout_exec(\\\"{$my_target_exec}\\\", file_get_contents('php://stdin'), {$timeout});\" <&3 &) 3<&0";//php by default use "sh", and "sh" don't support "<&0"
my_timeout_exec($my_background_exec, json_encode($params), 2);
}

function
my_timeout_exec($cmd, $stdin='', $timeout)
{
$start=time();
$stdout='';
$stderr='';
//file_put_contents('debug.txt', time().':cmd:'.$cmd."\n", FILE_APPEND);
//file_put_contents('debug.txt', time().':stdin:'.$stdin."\n", FILE_APPEND);

$process=proc_open($cmd, [['pipe', 'r'], ['pipe', 'w'], ['pipe', 'w']], $pipes);
if (!
is_resource($process))
{return array(
'return'=>'1', 'stdout'=>$stdout, 'stderr'=>$stderr);
}
$status=proc_get_status($process);
posix_setpgid($status['pid'], $status['pid']); //seperate pgid(process group id) from parent's pgid

stream_set_blocking($pipes[0], 0);
stream_set_blocking($pipes[1], 0);
stream_set_blocking($pipes[2], 0);
fwrite($pipes[0], $stdin);
fclose($pipes[0]);

while (
1)
{
$stdout.=stream_get_contents($pipes[1]);
$stderr.=stream_get_contents($pipes[2]);

if (
time()-$start>$timeout)
{
//proc_terminate($process, 9); //only terminate subprocess, won't terminate sub-subprocess
posix_kill(-$status['pid'], 9); //sends SIGKILL to all processes inside group(negative means GPID, all subprocesses share the top process group, except nested my_timeout_exec)
//file_put_contents('debug.txt', time().":kill group {$status['pid']}\n", FILE_APPEND);
return array('return'=>'1', 'stdout'=>$stdout, 'stderr'=>$stderr);
}

$status=proc_get_status($process);
//file_put_contents('debug.txt', time().':status:'.var_export($status, true)."\n";
if (!$status['running'])
{
fclose($pipes[1]);
fclose($pipes[2]);
proc_close($process);
return
$status['exitcode'];
}

usleep(100000);
}
}
?>

a_class.php:
<?php
class A
{
static function
jack($a, $b)
{
sleep(4);
file_put_contents('debug.txt', time().":A::jack:".$a.' '.$b."\n", FILE_APPEND);
sleep(15);
}
}
?>

test.php:
<?php
require 'my_exec.php';

my_background_exec('A::jack', array('hello', 'jack'), 'require "my_exec.php";require "a_class.php";', 8);
?>
up
19
jonathon dot keogh at gmail dot com
16 years ago
You can do set_time_limit(0); so that the script will run forever - however this is not recommended and your web server might catch you out with an imposed HTTP timeout (usually around 5 minutes).

You should check your web server's guides for more information about HTTP timeouts.

Jonathon
up
10
cweiske at cweiske dot de
16 years ago
To get the currently used time, use getrusage()
up
10
eric pecoraro at shepard com
19 years ago
I was having trouble with script timeouts in applications where the user prompted long running background actions. I wrote this cURL/CLI background script that solved the problem when making requests from HTTP.

<?php

/* BACKGROUND CLI 1.0

eric pecoraro _at_ shepard dot com - 2005-06-02
Use at your own risk. No warranties expressed or implied.

Include this file at the top of any script to run it in the background
with no time limitations ... e.g., include('background_cli.php');

The script that calls this file should not return output to the browser.
*/
# REQUIREMENTS - cURL and CLI
if ( !function_exists('curl_setopt') OR !function_exists('curl_setopt') ) {
echo
'Requires cURL and CLI installations.' ; exit ;
}

# BUILD PATHS
$script = array_pop(explode('/',$SCRIPT_NAME)) ;
$script_dir = substr($SCRIPT_NAME,0,strlen($SCRIPT_NAME)-strlen($script)) ;
$scriptURL = 'http://'. $HTTP_HOST . $script_dir . "$script" ;
$curlURL = 'http://'. $HTTP_HOST . $script_dir . "$script?runscript=curl" ;

# Indicate that script is being called by CLI
if ( php_sapi_name() == 'cli' ) {
$CLI = true ;
}

# Action if script is being called by cURL_prompt()
if ( $runscript == 'curl' ) {
$cmd = "/usr/local/bin/php ".$PATH_TRANSLATED ; // server location of script to run
exec($cmd) ;
exit;
}

# USER INTERFACE
// User answer after submission.
if ( $post ) {
cURL_prompt($curlURL) ;
echo
'<div style="margin:25px;"><title>Background CLI</title>';
echo
'O.K. If all goes well, <b>'.$script.'</b> is working hard in the background with no ' ;
echo
'timeout limitations. <br><br><form action='.$scriptURL.' method=GET>' ;
echo
'<input type=submit value=" RESET BACKGROUND CLI "></form></div>' ;
exit ;
}
// Start screen.
if ( !$CLI AND !$runscript ) {
echo
'<title>Background CLI</title><div style="margin:25px;">' ;
echo
'<form action='.$scriptURL.' method=POST>' ;
echo
'Click to run <b>'.$script.'</b> from the PHP CLI command line, in the background.<br><br>' ;
echo
'<input type=hidden value=1 name=post>' ;
echo
'<input type=submit value=" RUN IN BACKGROUND "></form></div>' ;
exit ;
}

# cURL URL PROMPT FUNCTION
function cURL_prompt($url_path) {
ob_start(); // start output buffer
$c=curl_init($url_path);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 2); // drop connection after 2 seconds
curl_exec($c);
curl_close($c);
ob_end_clean(); // discard output buffer
}
?>
up
3
robertbrogers at gmail dot com
10 years ago
Documentation states:
When called, set_time_limit() restarts the timeout counter from zero. In other words, if the timeout is the default 30 seconds, and 25 seconds into script execution a call such as set_time_limit(20) is made, the script will run for a total of 45 seconds before timing out.

If I have a long running script and i want a exact time limit, I set this as near as possible to the first line.
up
5
php at mightycpa.com
21 years ago
You may also need to look at Apache's timeout setting (Win32 version for me), I changed max execution time value in php.ini, and still got stopped by Apache's timeout value in the httpd.conf file.
up
4
AtlantisNet
16 years ago
In IIS, there is another global timeout setting which will override any PHP settings. You can alter this timeout by following the following instructions:

http://www.iisadmin.co.uk/?p=7
up
0
f.nakamura
9 years ago
set_tme_limit resets the execution time count.

test code1:
<?php
echo '<html><body>';
set_time_limit(1);
$i = 0;
while(++
$i < 100000001){
if(
$i % 100000 == 0){
echo
$i / 100000, "<br/>\n";
}
}
echo
"done.<br/>\n";

// will not echo 'done.'.
?>

test code2:
<?php
echo '<html><body>';
set_time_limit(1);
$i = 0;
while(++
$i < 100000001){
if(
$i % 100000 == 0){
set_time_limit(1);
echo
$i / 100000, "<br/>\n";
}
}
echo
"done.<br/>\n";

// will echo 'done.'
?>
up
-1
php at stock-consulting dot com
17 years ago
To find out the currently set time limit, use

<?php
ini_get
('max_execution_time');
?>

If set_time_limit has been previously called in the script, the result will be the value which was passed to set_time_limit (and not, as the function name "ini_get" appears to suggest, the value from the php.ini file).
up
-1
rycardo74 at gmail dot com
19 years ago
this work to fine html streaming AND time pass limit

<?php
header
('Content-type: text/plain');
echo
date("H:m:s"), "\n";
set_time_limit(30);
for (
$i = 0; $i < 1000; $i++)
{

echo
date("H:m:s"),"\n";
for (
$r = 0; $r < 100000; $r++){
$X.= tan(M_LNPI+log(ceil( date("s")*M_PI*M_LNPI+100)));
}
ob_flush();
flush();

}
echo
"work! $x";
?>
up
-2
konrads dot smelkovs at gmail dot com
18 years ago
If you are streaming large data from database, it is counted towards the max exec time.
up
-3
rsallo at gna dot NOSPAM dot es
21 years ago
When you are working with IIS, PHP timeout is valid only when it's lower than script timeout defined by IIS.

IIS 5 has a default timeout of 300 seconds. If you need a higher timeout, you also have to change IIS properties. Otherwise, your server will stop your PHP script before it reaches its own timeout.
up
-4
ratty at brohoof dot com
13 years ago
One thing that I wish I had found sooner is, if you're using php-cli and really need to limit the executation time, and if you're in *nix, you can use "timeout" which is part of coreutils.
For example:

timeout 5 /usr/bin/php -q /path/to/script

and it will kill it if it takes longer than 5 seconds.
I had a few quick php scripts I wrote for use with cacti for example.
up
-3
Anonymous
5 years ago
if you want to check how much time remains, this should work (at least on Windows, on non-Windows platforms, i'm not sure)

$seconds_remaining_until_termination = ini_get('max_execution_time') === "0" ? null : ((int)ini_get('max_execution_time'))-(microtime(true)-$_SERVER['REQUEST_TIME_FLOAT']);

gives you number of seconds until the script will be terminated due to the time limit. (tested on Windows 7 X64 SP1 with PHP 7.3.7) - or gives you null if there is no time limit.
up
-4
Daan
3 years ago
If you would like to calculatue the wall time of your script (includes all external DB/HTTP calls etc.) in Unix (in Windows this is already default behavior), you could use the following function:

<?php

$timeoutInSeconds
= 3;

// This will make sure this is always called async
pcntl_async_signals(1);

// Second parameter is any callable (https://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.callable.php)
pcntl_signal(SIGALRM, function() {
exit(
'Stop it!');
});
pcntl_alarm($timeoutInSeconds);

?>
To Top