The variable $SECOND won't intend to be exact to the nanoseconds! Not even to 1/100th... This variable is intended to show current time of execution, at SECOND resolution.
This variable is simply incremented each time SYSTEM CLOCK increment his SECOND part of current time. Try this little command line many times: ~$ secTest() { bash -c 'start=${EPOCHREALTIME}; while !((SECONDS));do sleep .02;done; end=${EPOCHREALTIME}; dur=00000$(( ${end/.}-${start/.} )); printf "Second duration: %.5f\n" ${dur::-6}.${dur: -6}'; } ~$ secTest Second duration: 0.33484 ~$ secTest Second duration: 0.04215 You won't ever see an answer higher than 0.99999 seconds! ... But you may notice some seconds incremented at 0.00001 seconds! Le Wed, Aug 07, 2024 at 09:10:40AM -0500, G. Branden Robinson a écrit : > At the risk of splitting hairs, I would cast the added phrase as: > > "at a resolution of one second". -- Félix Hauri - <fe...@f-hauri.ch> - http://www.f-hauri.ch