How can I stop values being outputted immediately in Forth?

Question

Using SwiftForth, I am currently looking at methods for measuring the time it takes for a word to be executed. I am using the words 'counter' and then 'timer' in the form:

counter insert_word_here timer

This immediately outputs the time in microseconds that it takes to run the word. Is there a way I can prevent this integer from being outputted immediately, so that I can store it in the stack?

Answer 1

timer in SwiftForth is implemented something like

: timer  \ t0 -- ;
  counter swap - u.
;

Simply define a word without the u. and the elapsed time in milliseconds is left on the stack.

: timer-ms \ t0 -- t-elapsed
  counter swap -
;

I don't have SwiftForth, but timer was defined as an example on the page I found. I think this should work, but I can't test it.