diff --git a/src/redis.h b/src/redis.h
index 70d20db47..8a7a47fda 100644
--- a/src/redis.h
+++ b/src/redis.h
@@ -869,6 +869,7 @@ int ll2string(char *s, size_t len, long long value);
 int isStringRepresentableAsLong(sds s, long *longval);
 int isStringRepresentableAsLongLong(sds s, long long *longval);
 int isObjectRepresentableAsLongLong(robj *o, long long *llongval);
+long long ustime(void);
 
 /* Configuration */
 void loadServerConfig(char *filename);
diff --git a/src/util.c b/src/util.c
index e304ff839..ef9b901fd 100644
--- a/src/util.c
+++ b/src/util.c
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include "redis.h"
 #include <ctype.h>
 #include <limits.h>
+#include <sys/time.h>
 
 /* Glob-style pattern matching. */
 int stringmatchlen(const char *pattern, int patternLen,
@@ -241,3 +242,14 @@ int isObjectRepresentableAsLongLong(robj *o, long long *llongval) {
         return isStringRepresentableAsLongLong(o->ptr,llongval);
     }
 }
+
+/* Return the UNIX time in microseconds */
+long long ustime(void) {
+    struct timeval tv;
+    long long ust;
+
+    gettimeofday(&tv, NULL);
+    ust = ((long long)tv.tv_sec)*1000000;
+    ust += tv.tv_usec;
+    return ust;
+}