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39.1 Basic Thread Functions

Threads can be created and waited for. A thread cannot be exited directly, but the current thread can be exited implicitly, and other threads can be signaled.

Function: make-thread function &optional name ¶

Create a new thread of execution which invokes function. When function returns, the thread exits.

The new thread is created with no local variable bindings in effect. The new thread’s current buffer is inherited from the current thread.

name can be supplied to give a name to the thread. The name is used for debugging and informational purposes only; it has no meaning to Emacs. If name is provided, it must be a string.

This function returns the new thread.

Function: threadp object ¶

This function returns t if object represents an Emacs thread, nil otherwise.

Function: thread-join thread ¶

Block until thread exits, or until the current thread is signaled. It returns the result of the thread function. If thread has already exited, this returns immediately.

Function: thread-signal thread error-symbol data ¶

Like signal (see How to Signal an Error), but the signal is delivered in the thread thread. If thread is the current thread, then this just calls signal immediately. Otherwise, thread will receive the signal as soon as it becomes current. If thread was blocked by a call to mutex-lock, condition-wait, or thread-join; thread-signal will unblock it.

If thread is the main thread, the signal is not propagated there. Instead, it is shown as message in the main thread.

Function: thread-yield ¶

Yield execution to the next runnable thread.

Function: thread-name thread ¶

Return the name of thread, as specified to make-thread.

Function: thread-live-p thread ¶

Return t if thread is alive, or nil if it is not. A thread is alive as long as its function is still executing.

Function: thread--blocker thread ¶

Return the object that thread is waiting on. This function is primarily intended for debugging, and is given a “double hyphen” name to indicate that.

If thread is blocked in thread-join, this returns the thread for which it is waiting.

If thread is blocked in mutex-lock, this returns the mutex.

If thread is blocked in condition-wait, this returns the condition variable.

Otherwise, this returns nil.

Function: current-thread ¶

Return the current thread.

Function: all-threads ¶

Return a list of all the live thread objects. A new list is returned by each invocation.

Variable: main-thread ¶

This variable keeps the main thread Emacs is running, or nil if Emacs is compiled without thread support.

When code run by a thread signals an error that is unhandled, the thread exits. Other threads can access the error form which caused the thread to exit using the following function.

Function: thread-last-error &optional cleanup ¶

This function returns the last error form recorded when a thread exited due to an error. Each thread that exits abnormally overwrites the form stored by the previous thread’s error with a new value, so only the last one can be accessed. If cleanup is non-nil, the stored form is reset to nil.