How to measure time of a statement in scala console?

The unexplained duration comes from the REPL calling toString on the iterator returned from findAllIn. This in turn calls Regex.MatchIterator#hasNext, which triggers the search.

scala> def time[A](a: => A) = {
     |   val now = System.nanoTime
     |   val result = a
     |   val micros = (System.nanoTime - now) / 1000
     |   println("%d microseconds".format(micros))
     |   result
     | }
time: [A](a: => A)A

scala> :power
** Power User mode enabled - BEEP WHIR GYVE **
** :phase has been set to 'typer'.          **
** scala.tools.nsc._ has been imported      **
** global._, definitions._ also imported    **
** Try  :help, :vals, power.<tab>           **

scala> :wrap time
Set wrapper to 'time'

scala> new Regex("(x+)+y").findAllIn("x"*25).toString
3000737 microseconds
res19: String = empty iterator

scala> {new Regex("(x+)+y").findAllIn("x"*25); 0}
582 microseconds
res20: Int = 0