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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 ‘<samp><span class="samp">+</span></samp>’. 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 <cycle 1> [12]
</pre>
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