Module Thread

module Thread: sig .. end

Lightweight threads.

type t

The type of thread handles.

Thread creation and termination

val create : ('a -> 'b) -> 'a -> t

Thread.create funct arg creates a new thread of control, in which the function application funct arg is executed concurrently with the other threads of the program. The application of Thread.create returns the handle of the newly created thread. The new thread terminates when the application funct arg returns, either normally or by raising an uncaught exception. In the latter case, the exception is printed on standard error, but not propagated back to the parent thread. Similarly, the result of the application funct arg is discarded and not directly accessible to the parent thread.

val self : unit -> t

Return the thread currently executing.

val id : t -> int

Return the identifier of the given thread. A thread identifier is an integer that identifies uniquely the thread. It can be used to build data structures indexed by threads.

val exit : unit -> unit

Terminate prematurely the currently executing thread.

val kill : t -> unit

Terminate prematurely the thread whose handle is given. This functionality is available only with bytecode-level threads.

Suspending threads

val delay : float -> unit

delay d suspends the execution of the calling thread for d seconds. The other program threads continue to run during this time.

val join : t -> unit

join th suspends the execution of the calling thread until the thread th has terminated.

val wait_read : Unix.file_descr -> unit

See Thread.wait_write.

val wait_write : Unix.file_descr -> unit

Suspend the execution of the calling thread until at least one character or EOF is available for reading (Thread.wait_read) or one character can be written without blocking (wait_write) on the given Unix file descriptor.

val wait_timed_read : Unix.file_descr -> float -> bool

See Thread.wait_timed_write.

val wait_timed_write : Unix.file_descr -> float -> bool

Same as Thread.wait_read and Thread.wait_write, but wait for at most the amount of time given as second argument (in seconds). Return true if the file descriptor is ready for input/output and false if the timeout expired.

val select : Unix.file_descr list ->
       Unix.file_descr list ->
       Unix.file_descr list ->
       float -> Unix.file_descr list * Unix.file_descr list * Unix.file_descr list

Suspend the execution of the calling thread until input/output becomes possible on the given Unix file descriptors. The arguments and results have the same meaning as for Unix.select.

val wait_pid : int -> int * Unix.process_status

wait_pid p suspends the execution of the calling thread until the Unix process specified by the process identifier p terminates. A pid p of -1 means wait for any child. A pid of 0 means wait for any child in the same process group as the current process. Negative pid arguments represent process groups. Returns the pid of the child caught and its termination status, as per Unix.wait.

val wait_signal : int list -> int

wait_signal sigs suspends the execution of the calling thread until the process receives one of the signals specified in the list sigs. It then returns the number of the signal received. Signal handlers attached to the signals in sigs will not be invoked. Do not call wait_signal concurrently from several threads on the same signals.

val yield : unit -> unit

Re-schedule the calling thread without suspending it. This function can be used to give scheduling hints, telling the scheduler that now is a good time to switch to other threads.

The present documentation is copyright Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA). A complete version can be obtained from this page.