pthread_key_create(3) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUE | ERRORS | SEE ALSO | EXAMPLE | COLOPHON

pthread_key_create(3)   Library Functions Manual   pthread_key_create(3)

NAME         top

       pthread_key_create, pthread_key_delete, pthread_setspecific,
       pthread_getspecific - management of thread-specific data

SYNOPSIS         top

       #include <pthread.h>

       int pthread_key_create(pthread_key_t *key,
                              void (*destr_function) (void *));
       int pthread_key_delete(pthread_key_t key);
       int pthread_setspecific(pthread_key_t key, const void *pointer);
       void * pthread_getspecific(pthread_key_t key);

DESCRIPTION         top

       Programs often need global or static variables that have
       different values in different threads.  Since threads share one
       memory space, this cannot be achieved with regular variables.
       Thread-specific data is the POSIX threads answer to this need.

       Each thread possesses a private memory block, the thread-specific
       data area, or TSD area for short.  This area is indexed by TSD
       keys.  The TSD area associates values of type void * to TSD keys.
       TSD keys are common to all threads, but the value associated with
       a given TSD key can be different in each thread.

       For concreteness, the TSD areas can be viewed as arrays of void *
       pointers, TSD keys as integer indices into these arrays, and the
       value of a TSD key as the value of the corresponding array
       element in the calling thread.

       When a thread is created, its TSD area initially associates NULL
       with all keys.

       pthread_key_create allocates a new TSD key.  The key is stored in
       the location pointed to by key.  There is a limit of
       PTHREAD_KEYS_MAX on the number of keys allocated at a given time.
       The value initially associated with the returned key is NULL in
       all currently executing threads.

       The destr_function argument, if not NULL, specifies a destructor
       function associated with the key.  When a thread terminates via
       pthread_exit or by cancelation, destr_function is called with
       arguments the value associated with the key in that thread.  The
       destr_function is not called if that value is NULL.  The order in
       which destructor functions are called at thread termination time
       is unspecified.

       Before the destructor function is called, the NULL value is
       associated with the key in the current thread.  A destructor
       function might, however, re-associate non-NULL values to that key
       or some other key.  To deal with this, if after all the
       destructors have been called for all non-NULL values, there are
       still some non-NULL values with associated destructors, then the
       process is repeated.  The glibc implementation stops the process
       after PTHREAD_DESTRUCTOR_ITERATIONS iterations, even if some non-
       NULL values with associated descriptors remain.  Other
       implementations may loop indefinitely.

       pthread_key_delete deallocates a TSD key.  It does not check
       whether non-NULL values are associated with that key in the
       currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
       associated with the key.

       pthread_setspecific changes the value associated with key in the
       calling thread, storing the given pointer instead.

       pthread_getspecific returns the value currently associated with
       key in the calling thread.

RETURN VALUE         top

       pthread_key_create, pthread_key_delete, and pthread_setspecific
       return 0 on success and a non-zero error code on failure.  If
       successful, pthread_key_create stores the newly allocated key in
       the location pointed to by its key argument.

       pthread_getspecific returns the value associated with key on
       success, and NULL on error.

ERRORS         top

       pthread_key_create returns the following error code on error:

              EAGAIN PTHREAD_KEYS_MAX keys are already allocated.

       pthread_key_delete and pthread_setspecific return the following
       error code on error:

              EINVAL key is not a valid, allocated TSD key.

       pthread_getspecific returns NULL if key is not a valid, allocated
       TSD key.

SEE ALSO         top

       pthread_create(3), pthread_exit(3), pthread_testcancel(3).

EXAMPLE         top

       The following code fragment allocates a thread-specific array of
       100 characters, with automatic reclamation at thread exit:

              /* Key for the thread-specific buffer */
              static pthread_key_t buffer_key;

              /* Once-only initialisation of the key */
              static pthread_once_t buffer_key_once = PTHREAD_ONCE_INIT;

              /* Allocate the thread-specific buffer */
              void buffer_alloc(void)
              {
                pthread_once(&buffer_key_once, buffer_key_alloc);
                pthread_setspecific(buffer_key, malloc(100));
              }

              /* Return the thread-specific buffer */
              char * get_buffer(void)
              {
                return (char *) pthread_getspecific(buffer_key);
              }

              /* Allocate the key */
              static void buffer_key_alloc()
              {
                pthread_key_create(&buffer_key, buffer_destroy);
              }

              /* Free the thread-specific buffer */
              static void buffer_destroy(void * buf)
              {
                free(buf);
              }

COLOPHON         top

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Linux man-pages 6.9.1          2024-06-16          pthread_key_create(3)

Pages that refer to this page: pthread_cancel(3)pthreads(7)