Package java.lang

Class Thread

  • All Implemented Interfaces:
    Runnable

    public class Thread
    extends Object
    implements Runnable
    A thread is a thread of execution in a program. The Java Virtual Machine allows an application to have multiple threads of execution running concurrently.

    Every thread has a priority. Threads with higher priority are executed in preference to threads with lower priority. Each thread may or may not also be marked as a daemon. When code running in some thread creates a new Thread object, the new thread has its priority initially set equal to the priority of the creating thread, and is a daemon thread if and only if the creating thread is a daemon.

    When a Java Virtual Machine starts up, there is usually a single non-daemon thread (which typically calls the method named main of some designated class). The Java Virtual Machine continues to execute threads until either of the following occurs:

    • The exit method of class Runtime has been called and the security manager has permitted the exit operation to take place.
    • All threads that are not daemon threads have died, either by returning from the call to the run method or by throwing an exception that propagates beyond the run method.

    There are two ways to create a new thread of execution. One is to declare a class to be a subclass of Thread. This subclass should override the run method of class Thread. An instance of the subclass can then be allocated and started. For example, a thread that computes primes larger than a stated value could be written as follows:


     class PrimeThread extends Thread {
            long minPrime;
    
            PrimeThread(long minPrime) {
                    this.minPrime = minPrime;
            }
    
            public void run() {
                 // compute primes larger than minPrime
                  . . .
             }
     }
     

    The following code would then create a thread and start it running:

     PrimeThread p = new PrimeThread(143);
     p.start();
     

    The other way to create a thread is to declare a class that implements the Runnable interface. That class then implements the run method. An instance of the class can then be allocated, passed as an argument when creating Thread, and started. The same example in this other style looks like the following:


     class PrimeRun implements Runnable {
            long minPrime;
    
            PrimeRun(long minPrime) {
                    this.minPrime = minPrime;
            }
    
            public void run() {
                 // compute primes larger than minPrime
                  . . .
             }
     }
     

    The following code would then create a thread and start it running:

     PrimeRun p = new PrimeRun(143);
     new Thread(p).start();
     

    Every thread has a name for identification purposes. More than one thread may have the same name. If a name is not specified when a thread is created, a new name is generated for it.

    Unless otherwise noted, passing a null argument to a constructor or method in this class will cause a NullPointerException to be thrown.

    See Also:
    Runnable, Runtime.exit(int), run()
    • Nested Class Summary

      Nested Classes 
      Modifier and Type Class Description
      static class  Thread.State
      A thread state.
      static interface  Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler
      Interface for handlers invoked when a Thread abruptly terminates due to an uncaught exception.
    • Field Summary

      Fields 
      Modifier and Type Field Description
      static int MAX_PRIORITY
      The maximum priority that a thread can have.
      static int MIN_PRIORITY
      The minimum priority that a thread can have.
      static int NORM_PRIORITY
      The default priority that is assigned to a thread.
    • Constructor Summary

      Constructors 
      Constructor Description
      Thread()
      Allocates a new Thread object.
      Thread​(Runnable target)
      Allocates a new Thread object with a specific target object whose run method is called.
      Thread​(Runnable target, String name)
      Allocates a new Thread object.
      Thread​(String name)
      Allocates a new Thread object.
    • Method Summary

      All Methods Static Methods Instance Methods Concrete Methods 
      Modifier and Type Method Description
      static int activeCount()
      Returns the current number of active threads in the virtual machine.
      void checkAccess()
      Determines if the currently running thread has permission to modify this thread.
      static Thread currentThread()
      Returns a reference to the currently executing thread object.
      static void dumpStack()
      Prints a stack trace of the current thread to the standard error stream.
      static int enumerate​(Thread[] tarray)
      Copies into the specified array every active thread.
      static Map<Thread,​StackTraceElement[]> getAllStackTraces()
      Returns a map of stack traces for all live threads.
      static Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler getDefaultUncaughtExceptionHandler()
      Returns the default handler invoked when a thread abruptly terminates due to an uncaught exception.
      long getId()
      Returns the identifier of this Thread.
      String getName()
      Returns this thread's name.
      int getPriority()
      Returns this thread's priority.
      StackTraceElement[] getStackTrace()
      Returns an array of stack trace elements representing the stack dump of this thread.
      Thread.State getState()
      Returns the state of this thread.
      Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler getUncaughtExceptionHandler()
      Returns the handler invoked when this thread abruptly terminates due to an uncaught exception.
      static boolean holdsLock​(Object obj)
      Returns true if and only if the current thread holds the monitor lock on the specified object.
      void interrupt()
      Interrupts this thread.
      static boolean interrupted()
      Tests whether the current thread has been interrupted.
      boolean isAlive()
      Tests if this thread is alive.
      boolean isDaemon()
      Tests if this thread is a daemon thread.
      boolean isInterrupted()
      Tests whether this thread has been interrupted.
      void join()
      Waits for this thread to die.
      void join​(long millis)
      Waits at most millis milliseconds for this thread to die.
      void join​(long millis, int nanos)
      Waits at most millis milliseconds plus nanos nanoseconds for this thread to die.
      void run()
      If this thread was constructed using a separate Runnable run object, then that Runnable object's run method is called; otherwise, this method does nothing and returns.
      void setDaemon​(boolean on)
      Marks this thread as either a daemon thread or a user thread.
      static void setDefaultUncaughtExceptionHandler​(Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler eh)
      Set the default handler invoked when a thread abruptly terminates due to an uncaught exception, and no other handler has been defined for that thread.
      void setName​(String name)
      Changes the name of this thread to be equal to the argument name.
      void setPriority​(int newPriority)
      Changes the priority of this thread.
      void setUncaughtExceptionHandler​(Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler eh)
      Set the handler invoked when this thread abruptly terminates due to an uncaught exception.
      static void sleep​(long millis)
      Causes the currently executing thread to sleep (temporarily cease execution) for the specified number of milliseconds, subject to the precision and accuracy of system timers and schedulers.
      static void sleep​(long millis, int nanos)
      Causes the currently executing thread to sleep (temporarily cease execution) for the specified number of milliseconds plus the specified number of nanoseconds, subject to the precision and accuracy of system timers and schedulers.
      void start()
      Causes this thread to begin execution; the Java Virtual Machine calls the run method of this thread.
      String toString()
      Returns a string representation of this thread, including the thread's name, priority, and thread group.
      static void yield()
      A hint to the scheduler that the current thread is willing to yield its current use of a processor.
    • Field Detail

      • MAX_PRIORITY

        public static final int MAX_PRIORITY
        The maximum priority that a thread can have.
        See Also:
        Constant Field Values
      • MIN_PRIORITY

        public static final int MIN_PRIORITY
        The minimum priority that a thread can have.
        See Also:
        Constant Field Values
      • NORM_PRIORITY

        public static final int NORM_PRIORITY
        The default priority that is assigned to a thread.
        See Also:
        Constant Field Values
    • Constructor Detail

      • Thread

        public Thread()
        Allocates a new Thread object.
      • Thread

        public Thread​(@Nullable
                      Runnable target)
        Allocates a new Thread object with a specific target object whose run method is called.
        Parameters:
        target - the object whose run method is invoked when this thread is started. If null, this classes run method does nothing.
      • Thread

        public Thread​(@Nullable
                      Runnable target,
                      String name)
        Allocates a new Thread object.
        Parameters:
        target - the object whose run method is invoked when this thread is started. If null, this classes run method does nothing.
        name - the name of the new thread
      • Thread

        public Thread​(String name)
        Allocates a new Thread object.
        Parameters:
        name - the name of the new thread
    • Method Detail

      • activeCount

        public static int activeCount()
        Returns the current number of active threads in the virtual machine.
        Returns:
        the number of active threads
      • currentThread

        public static Thread currentThread()
        Returns a reference to the currently executing thread object.
        Returns:
        the currently executing thread.
      • dumpStack

        public static void dumpStack()
        Prints a stack trace of the current thread to the standard error stream. This method is used only for debugging.
        See Also:
        Throwable.printStackTrace()
      • enumerate

        public static int enumerate​(Thread[] tarray)
        Copies into the specified array every active thread.

        An application might use the activeCount method to get an estimate of how big the array should be, however if the array is too short to hold all the threads, the extra threads are silently ignored. If it is critical to obtain every active thread in the current thread's thread group and its subgroups, the invoker should verify that the returned int value is strictly less than the length of tarray.

        Due to the inherent race condition in this method, it is recommended that the method only be used for debugging and monitoring purposes.

        Parameters:
        tarray - an array into which to put the list of threads
        Returns:
        the number of threads put into the array
      • getAllStackTraces

        public static Map<Thread,​StackTraceElement[]> getAllStackTraces()
        Returns a map of stack traces for all live threads. The map keys are threads and each map value is an array of StackTraceElement that represents the stack dump of the corresponding Thread. The returned stack traces are in the format specified for the getStackTrace method.

        The threads may be executing while this method is called. The stack trace of each thread only represents a snapshot and each stack trace may be obtained at different time. A zero-length array will be returned in the map value if the virtual machine has no stack trace information about a thread.

        If there is a security manager, then the security manager's checkPermission method is called with a RuntimePermission("getStackTrace") permission to see if it is ok to get the stack trace of all threads.

        Returns:
        a Map from Thread to an array of StackTraceElement that represents the stack trace of the corresponding thread.
        Throws:
        SecurityException - if a security manager exists and its checkPermission method doesn't allow getting the stack trace of thread.
        See Also:
        getStackTrace(), SecurityManager.checkPermission(java.security.Permission), RuntimePermission, Throwable.getStackTrace()
      • holdsLock

        public static boolean holdsLock​(Object obj)
        Returns true if and only if the current thread holds the monitor lock on the specified object.

        This method is designed to allow a program to assert that the current thread already holds a specified lock:

         assert Thread.holdsLock(obj);
         
        Parameters:
        obj - the object on which to test lock ownership
        Returns:
        true if the current thread holds the monitor lock on the specified object.
        Throws:
        NullPointerException - if obj is null
      • interrupted

        public static boolean interrupted()
        Tests whether the current thread has been interrupted. The interrupted status of the thread is cleared by this method. In other words, if this method were to be called twice in succession, the second call would return false (unless the current thread were interrupted again, after the first call had cleared its interrupted status and before the second call had examined it).

        A thread interruption ignored because a thread was not alive at the time of the interrupt will be reflected by this method returning false.

        Returns:
        true if the current thread has been interrupted; false otherwise.
        See Also:
        isInterrupted()
      • setDefaultUncaughtExceptionHandler

        public static void setDefaultUncaughtExceptionHandler​(@Nullable
                                                              Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler eh)
        Set the default handler invoked when a thread abruptly terminates due to an uncaught exception, and no other handler has been defined for that thread.

        Uncaught exception handling is controlled first by the thread and by the default uncaught exception handler. If the thread does not have an explicit uncaught exception handler set, and the thread's thread group (including parent thread groups) does not specialize its uncaughtException method, then the default handler's uncaughtException method will be invoked.

        By setting the default uncaught exception handler, an application can change the way in which uncaught exceptions are handled (such as logging to a specific device, or file) for those threads that would already accept whatever "default" behavior the system provided.

        Parameters:
        eh - the object to use as the default uncaught exception handler. If null then there is no default handler.
        Throws:
        SecurityException - if a security manager is present and it denies RuntimePermission ("setDefaultUncaughtExceptionHandler")
        See Also:
        setUncaughtExceptionHandler(java.lang.Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler), getUncaughtExceptionHandler()
      • sleep

        public static void sleep​(long millis)
                          throws InterruptedException
        Causes the currently executing thread to sleep (temporarily cease execution) for the specified number of milliseconds, subject to the precision and accuracy of system timers and schedulers. The thread does not lose ownership of any monitors.
        Parameters:
        millis - the length of time to sleep in milliseconds
        Throws:
        IllegalArgumentException - if the value of millis is negative
        InterruptedException - if any thread has interrupted the current thread. The interrupted status of the current thread is cleared when this exception is thrown.
      • sleep

        public static void sleep​(long millis,
                                 int nanos)
                          throws InterruptedException
        Causes the currently executing thread to sleep (temporarily cease execution) for the specified number of milliseconds plus the specified number of nanoseconds, subject to the precision and accuracy of system timers and schedulers. The thread does not lose ownership of any monitors.
        Parameters:
        millis - the length of time to sleep in milliseconds
        nanos - 0-999999 additional nanoseconds to sleep
        Throws:
        IllegalArgumentException - if the value of millis is negative, or the value of nanos is not in the range 0-999999
        InterruptedException - if any thread has interrupted the current thread. The interrupted status of the current thread is cleared when this exception is thrown.
      • yield

        public static void yield()
        A hint to the scheduler that the current thread is willing to yield its current use of a processor. The scheduler is free to ignore this hint.

        Yield is a heuristic attempt to improve relative progression between threads that would otherwise over-utilise a CPU. Its use should be combined with detailed profiling and benchmarking to ensure that it actually has the desired effect.

      • checkAccess

        public final void checkAccess()
        Determines if the currently running thread has permission to modify this thread.

        If there is a security manager, its checkAccess method is called with this thread as its argument. This may result in throwing a SecurityException.

        Throws:
        SecurityException - if the current thread is not allowed to access this thread.
        See Also:
        SecurityManager.checkAccess(Thread)
      • getId

        public long getId()
        Returns the identifier of this Thread. The thread ID is a positive long number generated when this thread was created. The thread ID is unique and remains unchanged during its lifetime. When a thread is terminated, this thread ID may be reused.
        Returns:
        this thread's ID.
      • getName

        public final String getName()
        Returns this thread's name.
        Returns:
        this thread's name.
        See Also:
        setName(String)
      • getPriority

        public final int getPriority()
        Returns this thread's priority.
        Returns:
        this thread's priority.
        See Also:
        setPriority(int)
      • getStackTrace

        public StackTraceElement[] getStackTrace()
        Returns an array of stack trace elements representing the stack dump of this thread. This method will return a zero-length array if this thread has not started, has started but has not yet been scheduled to run by the system, or has terminated. If the returned array is of non-zero length then the first element of the array represents the top of the stack, which is the most recent method invocation in the sequence. The last element of the array represents the bottom of the stack, which is the least recent method invocation in the sequence.

        If there is a security manager, and this thread is not the current thread, then the security manager's checkPermission method is called with a RuntimePermission("getStackTrace") permission to see if it's ok to get the stack trace.

        Some virtual machines may, under some circumstances, omit one or more stack frames from the stack trace. In the extreme case, a virtual machine that has no stack trace information concerning this thread is permitted to return a zero-length array from this method.

        Returns:
        an array of StackTraceElement, each represents one stack frame.
        Throws:
        SecurityException - if a security manager exists and its checkPermission method doesn't allow getting the stack trace of thread.
        See Also:
        SecurityManager.checkPermission(java.security.Permission), RuntimePermission, Throwable.getStackTrace()
      • getState

        public Thread.State getState()
        Returns the state of this thread. This method is designed for use in monitoring of the system state, not for synchronization control.
        Returns:
        this thread's state.
      • getUncaughtExceptionHandler

        @Nullable
        public Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler getUncaughtExceptionHandler()
        Returns the handler invoked when this thread abruptly terminates due to an uncaught exception. If this thread has not had an uncaught exception handler explicitly set then null is returned.
        Returns:
        the uncaught exception handler for this thread
      • isAlive

        public final boolean isAlive()
        Tests if this thread is alive. A thread is alive if it has been started and has not yet died.
        Returns:
        true if this thread is alive; false otherwise.
      • isInterrupted

        public boolean isInterrupted()
        Tests whether this thread has been interrupted. The interrupted status of the thread is unaffected by this method.

        A thread interruption ignored because a thread was not alive at the time of the interrupt will be reflected by this method returning false.

        Returns:
        true if this thread has been interrupted; false otherwise.
        See Also:
        interrupted()
      • join

        public final void join()
                        throws InterruptedException
        Waits for this thread to die.

        An invocation of this method behaves in exactly the same way as the invocation

        join(0)
        Throws:
        InterruptedException - if any thread has interrupted the current thread. The interrupted status of the current thread is cleared when this exception is thrown.
      • join

        public final void join​(long millis)
                        throws InterruptedException
        Waits at most millis milliseconds for this thread to die. A timeout of 0 means to wait forever.

        This implementation uses a loop of this.wait calls conditioned on this.isAlive. As a thread terminates the this.notifyAll method is invoked. It is recommended that applications not use wait, notify, or notifyAll on Thread instances.

        Parameters:
        millis - the time to wait in milliseconds
        Throws:
        IllegalArgumentException - if the value of millis is negative
        InterruptedException - if any thread has interrupted the current thread. The interrupted status of the current thread is cleared when this exception is thrown.
      • join

        public final void join​(long millis,
                               int nanos)
                        throws InterruptedException
        Waits at most millis milliseconds plus nanos nanoseconds for this thread to die.

        This implementation uses a loop of this.wait calls conditioned on this.isAlive. As a thread terminates the this.notifyAll method is invoked. It is recommended that applications not use wait, notify, or notifyAll on Thread instances.

        Parameters:
        millis - the time to wait in milliseconds
        nanos - 0-999999 additional nanoseconds to wait
        Throws:
        IllegalArgumentException - if the value of millis is negative, or the value of nanos is not in the range 0-999999
        InterruptedException - if any thread has interrupted the current thread. The interrupted status of the current thread is cleared when this exception is thrown.
      • run

        public void run()
        If this thread was constructed using a separate Runnable run object, then that Runnable object's run method is called; otherwise, this method does nothing and returns. Subclasses of Thread should override this method.
        Specified by:
        run in interface Runnable
        See Also:
        run()
      • setName

        public final void setName​(String name)
        Changes the name of this thread to be equal to the argument name.

        First the checkAccess method of this thread is called with no arguments. This may result in throwing a SecurityException.

        Parameters:
        name - the new name for this thread.
        Throws:
        SecurityException - if the current thread cannot modify this thread.
        See Also:
        getName()
      • setDaemon

        public final void setDaemon​(boolean on)
        Marks this thread as either a daemon thread or a user thread. The Java Virtual Machine exits when the only threads running are all daemon threads.

        This method must be invoked before the thread is started.

        Parameters:
        on - if true, marks this thread as a daemon thread
        Throws:
        IllegalThreadStateException - if this thread is alive
        SecurityException - if checkAccess() determines that the current thread cannot modify this thread
      • isDaemon

        public final boolean isDaemon()
        Tests if this thread is a daemon thread.
        Returns:
        true if this thread is a daemon thread; false otherwise.
        See Also:
        setDaemon(boolean)
      • start

        public void start()
        Causes this thread to begin execution; the Java Virtual Machine calls the run method of this thread.

        The result is that two threads are running concurrently: the current thread (which returns from the call to the start method) and the other thread (which executes its run method).

        It is never legal to start a thread more than once. In particular, a thread may not be restarted once it has completed execution.

        Throws:
        IllegalThreadStateException - if the thread was already started.
        See Also:
        run()
      • toString

        public String toString()
        Returns a string representation of this thread, including the thread's name, priority, and thread group.
        Overrides:
        toString in class Object
        Returns:
        a string representation of this thread.