Here is a python script that loads a url and captures response time:

import urllib2
import timeopener = urllib2.build_opener()
request = urllib2.Request('http://example.com')start = time.time()
resp = opener.open(request)
resp.read()
ttlb = time.time() - start

Since my timer is wrapped around the whole request/response (including read()), this will give me the TTLB (time to last byte).

I would also like to get the TTFB (time to first byte), but am not sure where to start/stop my timing. Is urllib2 granular enough for me to add TTFB timers? If so, where would they go?

you should use pycurl, not urllib2

1. install pyCurl:
   you can use pip / easy_install, or install it from source.

   easy_install pyCurl

   maybe you should be a superuser.

2. usage:

   import pycurl
   import sys 
   import jsonWEB_SITES = sys.argv[1]def main():c = pycurl.Curl()c.setopt(pycurl.URL, WEB_SITES)              #set urlc.setopt(pycurl.FOLLOWLOCATION, 1)  content = c.perform()                        #execute dns_time = c.getinfo(pycurl.NAMELOOKUP_TIME) #DNS timeconn_time = c.getinfo(pycurl.CONNECT_TIME)   #TCP/IP 3-way handshaking timestarttransfer_time = c.getinfo(pycurl.STARTTRANSFER_TIME)  #time-to-first-byte timetotal_time = c.getinfo(pycurl.TOTAL_TIME)  #last requst timec.close()data = json.dumps({'dns_time':dns_time,         'conn_time':conn_time,        'starttransfer_time':starttransfer_time,    'total_time':total_time})return dataif __name__ == "__main__":    print main()