Question

What is the easiest, most effective way in C on Linux to asynchronously call a function after a certain delay (like JavaScript’s setTimeout) or set a repetitive timer call it periodically (similar to setInterval)?

Though this question applies to Linux, I hope there is a method that is cross-platform.

Answer 1

The simplest Linux specific solution is to use the alarm function:

void alarm_handler (int signum)
{
    printf ("Five seconds passed!\n");
}

signal (SIGALRM, alarm_handler);
alarm (5);

getitimer and setitimer functions can be used to create timers with higher-precisions. (more…).