hs.timer
Execute functions with various timing rules
NOTE: timers use NSTimer internally, which will be paused when computers sleep. Especially, repeating timers won't be triggered at the specified time when there are sleeps in between. The workaround is to prevent system from sleeping, configured in Energy Saver in System Preferences.
Submodules
API Overview
- Functions - API calls offered directly by the extension
- Constructors - API calls which return an object, typically one that offers API methods
- Methods - API calls which can only be made on an object returned by a constructor
API Documentation
Functions
Signature | hs.timer.absoluteTime() -> nanoseconds |
Type | Function |
Description |
Returns the absolute time in nanoseconds since the last system boot. |
Parameters |
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Returns |
- the time since the last system boot in nanoseconds
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Notes |
- this value does not include time that the system has spent asleep
- this value is used for the timestamps in system generated events.
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Source | extensions/timer/libtimer.m line 447 |
Signature | hs.timer.days(n) -> sec |
Type | Function |
Description |
Converts days to seconds |
Parameters |
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Returns |
- The number of seconds in n days
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Source | extensions/timer/timer.lua line 81 |
Signature | hs.timer.hours(n) -> seconds |
Type | Function |
Description |
Converts hours to seconds |
Parameters |
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Returns |
- The number of seconds in n hours
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Source | extensions/timer/timer.lua line 70 |
Signature | hs.timer.localTime() -> number |
Type | Function |
Description |
Returns the number of seconds since local time midnight |
Parameters |
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Returns |
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Source | extensions/timer/timer.lua line 215 |
Signature | hs.timer.minutes(n) -> seconds |
Type | Function |
Description |
Converts minutes to seconds |
Parameters |
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Returns |
- The number of seconds in n minutes
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Source | extensions/timer/timer.lua line 59 |
Signature | hs.timer.seconds(timeOrDuration) -> seconds |
Type | Function |
Description |
Converts a string with a time of day or a duration into number of seconds |
Parameters |
- timeOrDuration - a string that can have any of the following formats:
- "HH:MM:SS" or "HH:MM" - represents a time of day (24-hour clock), returns the number of seconds since midnight
- "DDdHHh", "HHhMMm", "MMmSSs", "DDd", "HHh", "MMm", "SSs", "NNNNms" - represents a duration in days, hours, minutes, seconds and/or milliseconds
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Returns |
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Source | extensions/timer/timer.lua line 45 |
Signature | hs.timer.secondsSinceEpoch() -> sec |
Type | Function |
Description |
Gets the (fractional) number of seconds since the UNIX epoch (January 1, 1970) |
Parameters |
|
Returns |
- The number of seconds since the epoch
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Notes |
- This has much better precision than
os.time() , which is limited to whole seconds. |
Source | extensions/timer/libtimer.m line 424 |
Signature | hs.timer.usleep(microsecs) |
Type | Function |
Description |
Blocks Lua execution for the specified time |
Parameters |
- microsecs - A number containing a time in microseconds to block for
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Returns |
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Notes |
- Use of this function is strongly discouraged, as it blocks all main-thread execution in Hammerspoon. This means no hotkeys or events will be processed in that time, no GUI updates will happen, and no Lua will execute. This is only provided as a last resort, or for extremely short sleeps. For all other purposes, you really should be splitting up your code into multiple functions and calling
hs.timer.doAfter()
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Source | extensions/timer/libtimer.m line 243 |
Signature | hs.timer.weeks(n) -> sec |
Type | Function |
Description |
Converts weeks to seconds |
Parameters |
|
Returns |
- The number of seconds in n weeks
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Source | extensions/timer/timer.lua line 92 |
Constructors
Signature | hs.timer.doAfter(sec, fn) -> timer |
Type | Constructor |
Description |
Calls a function after a delay |
Parameters |
- sec - A number of seconds to wait before calling the function
- fn - A function to call
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Returns |
|
Notes |
- There is no need to call
:start() on the returned object, the timer will be already running. - The callback can be cancelled by calling the
:stop() method on the returned object before sec seconds have passed. |
Source | extensions/timer/libtimer.m line 205 |
Signature | hs.timer.doAt(time[, repeatInterval], fn[, continueOnError]) -> timer |
Type | Constructor |
Description |
Creates and starts a timer which will perform fn at the given (local) time and then (optionally) repeat it every interval . |
Parameters |
- time - number of seconds after (local) midnight, or a string in the format "HH:MM" (24-hour local time), indicating the desired trigger time
- repeatInterval - (optional) number of seconds between triggers, or a string in the format "DDd", "DDdHHh", "HHhMMm", "HHh" or "MMm" indicating days, hours and/or minutes between triggers; if omitted or
0 the timer will trigger only once - fn - a function to call every time the timer triggers
- continueOnError - an optional boolean flag, defaulting to false, which indicates that the timer should not be automatically stopped if the callback function results in an error.
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Returns |
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Notes |
- The timer can trigger up to 1 second early or late
- The first trigger will be set to the earliest occurrence given the
repeatInterval ; if that's omitted, and time is earlier than the current time, the timer will trigger the next day. If the repeated interval results in exactly 24 hours you can schedule regular jobs that will run at the expected time independently of when Hammerspoon was restarted/reloaded. E.g.: - If it's 19:00,
hs.timer.doAt("20:00",somefn) will set the timer 1 hour from now - If it's 21:00,
hs.timer.doAt("20:00",somefn) will set the timer 23 hours from now - If it's 21:00,
hs.timer.doAt("20:00","6h",somefn) will set the timer 5 hours from now (at 02:00) - To run a job every hour on the hour from 8:00 to 20:00:
for h=8,20 do hs.timer.doAt(h..":00","1d",runJob) end
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Source | extensions/timer/timer.lua line 229 |
Signature | hs.timer.doEvery(interval, fn) -> timer |
Type | Constructor |
Description |
Repeats fn every interval seconds. |
Parameters |
- interval - A number of seconds between triggers
- fn - A function to call every time the timer triggers
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Returns |
|
Notes |
- This function is a shorthand for
hs.timer.new(interval, fn):start()
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Source | extensions/timer/timer.lua line 159 |
Signature | hs.timer.doUntil(predicateFn, actionFn[, checkInterval]) -> timer |
Type | Constructor |
Description |
Creates and starts a timer which will perform actionFn every checkinterval seconds until predicateFn returns true. The timer is automatically stopped when predicateFn returns true. |
Parameters |
- predicateFn - a function which determines when to stop calling
actionFn . This function takes no arguments, but should return true when it is time to stop calling actionFn . - actionFn - a function which performs the desired action. This function may take a single argument, the timer itself.
- checkInterval - an optional parameter indicating how often to repeat the
predicateFn check. Defaults to 1 second. |
Returns |
|
Notes |
- The timer is passed as an argument to
actionFn so that it may stop the timer prematurely (i.e. before predicateFn returns true) if desired. - See also
hs.timer.doWhile , which is essentially the opposite of this function |
Source | extensions/timer/timer.lua line 131 |
Signature | hs.timer.doWhile(predicateFn, actionFn[, checkInterval]) -> timer |
Type | Constructor |
Description |
Creates and starts a timer which will perform actionFn every checkinterval seconds while predicateFn returns true. The timer is automatically stopped when predicateFn returns false. |
Parameters |
- predicateFn - a function which determines when to stop calling
actionFn . This function takes no arguments, but should return false when it is time to stop calling actionFn . - actionFn - a function which performs the desired action. This function may take a single argument, the timer itself.
- checkInterval - an optional parameter indicating how often to repeat the
predicateFn check. Defaults to 1 second. |
Returns |
|
Notes |
- The timer is passed as an argument to
actionFn so that it may stop the timer prematurely (i.e. before predicateFn returns false) if desired. - See also
hs.timer.doUntil , which is essentially the opposite of this function |
Source | extensions/timer/timer.lua line 195 |
Signature | hs.timer.new(interval, fn [, continueOnError]) -> timer |
Type | Constructor |
Description |
Creates a new hs.timer object for repeating interval callbacks |
Parameters |
- interval - A number of seconds between firings of the timer
- fn - A function to call every time the timer fires
- continueOnError - An optional boolean, true if the timer should continue to be triggered after the callback function has produced an error, false if the timer should stop being triggered after the callback function has produced an error. Defaults to false.
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Returns |
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Notes |
- The returned object does not start its timer until its
:start() method is called - If
interval is 0, the timer will not repeat (because if it did, it would be repeating as fast as your machine can manage, which seems generally unwise) - For non-zero intervals, the lowest acceptable value for the interval is 0.00001s. Values >0 and <0.00001 will be coerced to 0.00001
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Source | extensions/timer/libtimer.m line 128 |
Signature | hs.timer.waitUntil(predicateFn, actionFn[, checkInterval]) -> timer |
Type | Constructor |
Description |
Creates and starts a timer which will perform actionFn when predicateFn returns true. The timer is automatically stopped when actionFn is called. |
Parameters |
- predicateFn - a function which determines when
actionFn should be called. This function takes no arguments, but should return true when it is time to call actionFn . - actionFn - a function which performs the desired action. This function may take a single argument, the timer itself.
- checkInterval - an optional parameter indicating how often to repeat the
predicateFn check. Defaults to 1 second. |
Returns |
|
Notes |
- The timer is stopped before
actionFn is called, but the timer is passed as an argument to actionFn so that the actionFn may restart the timer to be called again the next time predicateFn returns true. - See also
hs.timer.waitWhile , which is essentially the opposite of this function |
Source | extensions/timer/timer.lua line 103 |
Signature | hs.timer.waitWhile(predicateFn, actionFn[, checkInterval]) -> timer |
Type | Constructor |
Description |
Creates and starts a timer which will perform actionFn when predicateFn returns false. The timer is automatically stopped when actionFn is called. |
Parameters |
- predicateFn - a function which determines when
actionFn should be called. This function takes no arguments, but should return false when it is time to call actionFn . - actionFn - a function which performs the desired action. This function may take a single argument, the timer itself.
- checkInterval - an optional parameter indicating how often to repeat the
predicateFn check. Defaults to 1 second. |
Returns |
|
Notes |
- The timer is stopped before
actionFn is called, but the timer is passed as an argument to actionFn so that the actionFn may restart the timer to be called again the next time predicateFn returns false. - See also
hs.timer.waitUntil , which is essentially the opposite of this function |
Source | extensions/timer/timer.lua line 176 |
Methods
Signature | hs.timer:fire() -> timer |
Type | Method |
Description |
Immediately fires a timer |
Parameters |
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Returns |
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Notes |
- This cannot be used on a timer which has already stopped running
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Source | extensions/timer/libtimer.m line 336 |
Signature | hs.timer:nextTrigger() -> number |
Type | Method |
Description |
Returns the number of seconds until the timer will next trigger |
Parameters |
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Returns |
- A number containing the number of seconds until the next firing
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Notes |
- The return value may be a negative integer in two circumstances:
- Hammerspoon's runloop is backlogged and is catching up on missed timer triggers
- The timer object is not currently running. In this case, the return value of this method is the number of seconds since the last firing (you can check if the timer is running or not, with
hs.timer:running()
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Source | extensions/timer/libtimer.m line 283 |
Signature | hs.timer:running() -> boolean |
Type | Method |
Description |
Returns a boolean indicating whether or not the timer is currently running. |
Parameters |
|
Returns |
- A boolean value indicating whether or not the timer is currently running.
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Source | extensions/timer/libtimer.m line 264 |
Signature | hs.timer:setNextTrigger(seconds) -> timer |
Type | Method |
Description |
Sets the next trigger time of a timer |
Parameters |
- seconds - A number of seconds after which to trigger the timer
|
Returns |
- The
hs.timer object, or nil if an error occurred |
Notes |
- If the timer is not already running, this will start it
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Source | extensions/timer/libtimer.m line 307 |
Signature | hs.timer:start() -> timer |
Type | Method |
Description |
Starts an hs.timer object |
Parameters |
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Returns |
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Notes |
- The timer will not call the callback immediately, the timer will wait until it fires
- If the callback function results in an error, the timer will be stopped to prevent repeated error notifications (see the
continueOnError parameter to hs.timer.new() to override this) |
Source | extensions/timer/libtimer.m line 179 |