The time.perf_counter() function is used for measuring  system wide performance.   The starting point of the performance time is set at the time when the interpreter started. It also takes into account any time adjustments made on the system, such as daylight saving time.

The perf_counter() function is very useful for measuring the performance of a program, it offers a much higher resolution than other timing functions say  the time.time() function.

perf_counter()

The function takes no argument

It returns a floating point value representing  the elapsed seconds since the time when the interpreter started . It includes sleep durations such as during inputs, outputs, or delays due to  time.sleep() and similar function calls.

import time

print(time.perf_counter())

6.3388505

In the above case, it means that 6.3388505 seconds have elapsed since the time when the interpreter started.

import time

time.sleep(5)

print(time.perf_counter())

 13.3388505