# How to run program for x seconds, pause for x seconds?

**URL:** <https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-run-program-for-x-seconds-pause-for-x-seconds/27661>\
**Category:** Coding Questions\
**Created:** [February 8, 2021, 12:22am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-run-program-for-x-seconds-pause-for-x-seconds/27661 "2021-02-08T00:22:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lauren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@lauren](https://discourse.processing.org/u/lauren)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 12:22am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-run-program-for-x-seconds-pause-for-x-seconds/27661/1 "2021-02-08T00:22:08Z")

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Hi, I’m new to processing and I’m trying to figure out a way to run a function, pause for a certain amount of time, then continue running the program. So something like this  
-run function 1 for 0.1 seconds  
-pause for 0.1 seconds  
-continue running function 1 for 0.1 seconds  
-pause for 0.1 seconds  
continue…

I am not sure exactly how to do this and would appreciate help! Thanks

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**Author:** ![josephh](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.processing.org/josephh/32/210_2.png) [@josephh](https://discourse.processing.org/u/josephh)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 12:53am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/how-to-run-program-for-x-seconds-pause-for-x-seconds/27661/2 "2021-02-08T00:53:07Z")

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Hi,

In order to do that, you need to keep track of the time. In Processing you have some functions to deal with time but the useful one in this case is [`millis()`](https://processing.org/reference/millis_.html).

The `millis()` function gives you the current time in milliseconds **since the beginning of the program**. The last part of the sentence is important because other functions as `seconds()` or `minutes()` gives you the current time stored by your computer’s clock.

Now you know that the `setup()` function and the `draw()` functions are not executed the same way. The `setup()` function is only executed once at the beginning and the `draw()` function roughly every 60 times per second.

So if you executed your function 1 for the first time, you need to wait 0.1s for the next call and the `draw()` function need to run during that period. So every loop you need to check if the timeout is over :

```auto
void draw() {
  if (/* it's been 0.1s since the last f1 call*/) {
    // Call my function
  }
}

```

Notice the `since the last function 1 call`. We need to store the previous time where we called our function. For the condition, we can use the current time in milliseconds to check if the difference is greater than a certain amount of time.

Use a global variable for that outside the setup :

```auto
int lastCallTime = 0;
int pauseTime = 100; // equivalent to 0.1s

void setup() {

}

void draw() {
  int timeSinceLastCall = millis() - lastCallTime;

  if (timeSinceLastCall > pauseTime) {
    // Call our function
  }
}

```

The last step is to call our function and reset the last time each time. So here is the full program :

```auto
int lastCallTime = 0;
int pauseTime = 100; // equivalent to 0.1s

void myFunction() {
  println("Calling my function every " + (pauseTime / 1000.0) + " s");
}

void setup() {

}

void draw() {
  int timeSinceLastCall = millis() - lastCallTime;

  if (timeSinceLastCall > pauseTime) {
    myFunction();

    // The last call is now
    lastCallTime = millis();
  }
}

```

And that’s all 😉