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<h4 class="subsection">5.2.1 The Primary Line</h4>

<p>The <dfn>primary line</dfn> in a call graph entry is the line that
describes the function which the entry is about and gives the overall
statistics for this function.

   <p>For reference, we repeat the primary line from the entry for function
<code>report</code> in our main example, together with the heading line that
shows the names of the fields:

<pre class="smallexample">     index  % time    self  children called     name
     ...
     [3]    100.0    0.00    0.05       1         report [3]
</pre>
   <p>Here is what the fields in the primary line mean:

     <dl>
<dt><code>index</code><dd>Entries are numbered with consecutive integers.  Each function
therefore has an index number, which appears at the beginning of its
primary line.

     <p>Each cross-reference to a function, as a caller or subroutine of
another, gives its index number as well as its name.  The index number
guides you if you wish to look for the entry for that function.

     <br><dt><code>% time</code><dd>This is the percentage of the total time that was spent in this
function, including time spent in subroutines called from this
function.

     <p>The time spent in this function is counted again for the callers of
this function.  Therefore, adding up these percentages is meaningless.

     <br><dt><code>self</code><dd>This is the total amount of time spent in this function.  This
should be identical to the number printed in the <code>seconds</code> field
for this function in the flat profile.

     <br><dt><code>children</code><dd>This is the total amount of time spent in the subroutine calls made by
this function.  This should be equal to the sum of all the <code>self</code>
and <code>children</code> entries of the children listed directly below this
function.

     <br><dt><code>called</code><dd>This is the number of times the function was called.

     <p>If the function called itself recursively, there are two numbers,
separated by a &lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">+</span></samp>&rsquo;.  The first number counts non-recursive calls,
and the second counts recursive calls.

     <p>In the example above, the function <code>report</code> was called once from
<code>main</code>.

     <br><dt><code>name</code><dd>This is the name of the current function.  The index number is
repeated after it.

     <p>If the function is part of a cycle of recursion, the cycle number is
printed between the function's name and the index number
(see <a href="Cycles.html#Cycles">How Mutually Recursive Functions Are Described</a>). 
For example, if function <code>gnurr</code> is part of
cycle number one, and has index number twelve, its primary line would
be end like this:

     <pre class="example">          gnurr &lt;cycle 1&gt; [12]
</pre>
     </dl>

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