sh: time command not found

Question

In llvm 3.0 test-suite, I am getting the following error on bash:

sh: time command not found

The code is:

if [ "x$RHOST" = x ] ; then
  ( sh -c "$ULIMITCMD $TIMEIT -p sh -c '$COMMAND >$OUTFILE 2>&1 < $INFILE; echo exit \$?'" ) 2>&1 \
| awk -- '\
BEGIN     { cpu = 0.0; }
/^user/   { cpu += $2; print; }
!/^user/  { print; }
END       { printf("program %f\n", cpu); }' > $OUTFILE.time

where $TIMEIT = time.

I tried to change sh -c to eval but the error continued.

While trying to solve this error, I noticed something funny that may or may not help solving this:

Running sh -c "time" works but sh -c "time -p" doesn't.

Do any of you guys have any idea why this error happens and how would I solve it?

Answer 1

time is a reserved word in shells. To use the actual command, try:

command time [options] [command]

or:

/usr/bin/time [options] [command]

Source:

• https://askubuntu.com/questions/86193/command-not-found-when-trying-to-set-a-format-for-the-time-command/86196#86196

Answer 2

The program is provided by time package.
Install it, for example, like so:

apt-get install time

This answer enshrines the comment by jonhattan.

NOTE:

I found this fix useful when I was using GitHub Actions with a script that used time -p. So I did this in the yml file:

      - name: Install other packages
        run: |
          apt-get update
          
          # `time -p` is used for benchmarking tests.
          # This fixes error: 'sh: 1: time: not found':
          apt-get install time
      - name: Set up test database and run tests
        run: |
          script_with_time.sh