Using bc in bash script

[Charles Howse]

> > Can I refine it to give me something like: .784 seconds?
> 
> Use "bc -l" instead of bc.  That should do it.

No, that still gives 0 seconds.

I think this whole thing is dependent on the fact that `date +%s`
reports integers.

I'm still interested in something like .874 seconds, but for the time
being, I'll just use an if..then..else to say "less than 1 second" or
the actual number of seconds.

I've looked at the time command suggested by Jez, haven't tried it yet.

Geeeezz, why don't they include some *SIMPLE* examples in the man pages?
Not everybody has a degree in Advanced Calculus and works as a C++
programmer.  ;-)