Class ThreadLocal<T>

java.lang.Object

java.lang.ThreadLocal<T>

Type Parameters:

T - the type of the thread local's value

Direct Known Subclasses:

InheritableThreadLocal

public class ThreadLocal<T>
extends Object

This class provides thread-local variables. These variables differ from their normal counterparts in that each thread that accesses one (via its get or set method) has its own, independently initialized copy of the variable. ThreadLocal instances are typically private static fields in classes that wish to associate state with a thread (e.g., a user ID or Transaction ID).

For example, the class below generates unique identifiers local to each thread. A thread's id is assigned the first time it invokes ThreadId.get() and remains unchanged on subsequent calls.

import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;

public class ThreadId {
    // Atomic integer containing the next thread ID to be assigned
    private static final AtomicInteger nextId = new AtomicInteger(0);

    // Thread local variable containing each thread's ID
    private static final ThreadLocal<Integer> threadId =
        new ThreadLocal<Integer>() {
            @Override protected Integer initialValue() {
                return nextId.getAndIncrement();
        }
    };

    // Returns the current thread's unique ID, assigning it if necessary
    public static int get() {
        return threadId.get();
    }
}

Each thread holds an implicit reference to its copy of a thread-local variable as long as the thread is alive and the ThreadLocal instance is accessible; after a thread goes away, all of its copies of thread-local instances are subject to garbage collection (unless other references to these copies exist).

Since:

1.2

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor	Description
ThreadLocal()	Creates a thread local variable.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method	Description
T	get()	Returns the value in the current thread's copy of this thread-local variable.
protected T	initialValue()	Returns the current thread's "initial value" for this thread-local variable.
void	remove()	Removes the current thread's value for this thread-local variable.
void	set(T value)	Sets the current thread's copy of this thread-local variable to the specified value.
static <S> ThreadLocal<S>	withInitial(Supplier<? extends S> supplier)	Creates a thread local variable.

Methods declared in class Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Modifier and Type	Method	Description
protected Object	clone()	Answers a new instance of the same class as the receiver, whose slots have been filled in with the values in the slots of the receiver.
boolean	equals(Object o)	Compares the argument to the receiver, and answers true if they represent the same object using a class specific comparison.
protected void	finalize()	Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version. May cause performance issues, deadlocks and hangs.
final Class<? extends Object>	getClass()	Answers the unique instance of java.lang.Class which represents the class of the receiver.
int	hashCode()	Answers an integer hash code for the receiver.
final void	notify()	Causes one thread which is waiting on the receiver to be made ready to run.
final void	notifyAll()	Causes all threads which are waiting on the receiver to be made ready to run.
String	toString()	Answers a string containing a concise, human-readable description of the receiver.
final void	wait()	Causes the thread which sent this message to be made not ready to run pending some change in the receiver (as indicated by notify or notifyAll).
final void	wait(long time)	Causes the thread which sent this message to be made not ready to run either pending some change in the receiver (as indicated by notify or notifyAll) or the expiration of the timeout.
final void	wait(long time, int frac)	Causes the thread which sent this message to be made not ready to run either pending some change in the receiver (as indicated by notify or notifyAll) or the expiration of the timeout.

Constructor Details

ThreadLocal

public ThreadLocal()

Creates a thread local variable.

See Also:

• withInitial(java.util.function.Supplier)

Method Details

initialValue

protected T initialValue()

Returns the current thread's "initial value" for this thread-local variable. This method will be invoked the first time a thread accesses the variable with the get() method, unless the thread previously invoked the set(T) method, in which case the initialValue method will not be invoked for the thread. Normally, this method is invoked at most once per thread, but it may be invoked again in case of subsequent invocations of remove() followed by get().

Implementation Requirements:

This implementation simply returns null; if the programmer desires thread-local variables to have an initial value other than null, then either ThreadLocal can be subclassed and this method overridden or the method withInitial(Supplier) can be used to construct a ThreadLocal.

Returns:

the initial value for this thread-local

See Also:

• withInitial(java.util.function.Supplier)

withInitial

public static <S> ThreadLocal<S> withInitial(Supplier<? extends S> supplier)

Creates a thread local variable. The initial value of the variable is determined by invoking the get method on the Supplier.

Type Parameters:

S - the type of the thread local's value

Parameters:

supplier - the supplier to be used to determine the initial value

Returns:

a new thread local variable

Throws:

NullPointerException - if the specified supplier is null

Since:

1.8

get

public T get()

Returns the value in the current thread's copy of this thread-local variable. If the variable has no value for the current thread, it is first initialized to the value returned by an invocation of the initialValue() method.

Returns:

the current thread's value of this thread-local

set

public void set(T value)

Sets the current thread's copy of this thread-local variable to the specified value. Most subclasses will have no need to override this method, relying solely on the initialValue() method to set the values of thread-locals.

Parameters:

value - the value to be stored in the current thread's copy of this thread-local.

remove

public void remove()

Removes the current thread's value for this thread-local variable. If this thread-local variable is subsequently read by the current thread, its value will be reinitialized by invoking its initialValue() method, unless its value is set by the current thread in the interim. This may result in multiple invocations of the initialValue method in the current thread.

Since:

1.5