Module java.base
Package java.lang

Class ThreadGroup

java.lang.Object
java.lang.ThreadGroup
All Implemented Interfaces:
Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler
public class ThreadGroup extends Object implements Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler
A thread group represents a set of threads. In addition, a thread group can also include other thread groups. The thread groups form a tree in which every thread group except the initial thread group has a parent.

A thread group has a name and maximum priority. The name is specified when creating the group and cannot be changed. The group's maximum priority is the maximum priority for threads created in the group. It is initially inherited from the parent thread group but may be changed using the setMaxPriority method.

A thread group is weakly reachable from its parent group so that it is eligible for garbage collection when there are no live threads in the group and the thread group is otherwise unreachable.

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

Thread groups and virtual threads

The Java runtime creates a special thread group for virtual threads. This group is returned by the Thread.getThreadGroup method when invoked on a virtual thread. The thread group differs to other thread groups in that its maximum priority is fixed and cannot be changed with the setMaxPriority method. Virtual threads are not included in the estimated thread count returned by the activeCount method, are not enumerated by the enumerate method, and are not interrupted by the interrupt method.
API Note:
Thread groups provided a way in early Java releases to group threads and provide a form of job control for threads. Thread groups supported the isolation of applets and defined methods intended for diagnostic purposes. It should be rare for new applications to create ThreadGroups and interact with this API.
Since:
1.0

  • Constructor Summary

    Constructors
    Constructor
    Description
    ThreadGroup(String name)
    Constructs a new thread group.
    ThreadGroup(ThreadGroup parent, String name)
    Creates a new thread group.

  • Method Summary

    Modifier and Type
    Method
    Description
    int
    activeCount()
    Returns an estimate of the number of live platform threads in this thread group and its subgroups.
    int
    activeGroupCount()
    Returns an estimate of the number of groups in this thread group and its subgroups.
    boolean
    allowThreadSuspension(boolean b)
    Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
    This method was originally intended for controlling suspension in low memory conditions.
    final void
    checkAccess()
    Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
    This method is only useful in conjunction with the Security Manager, which is deprecated and subject to removal in a future release.
    final void
    destroy()
    Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
    This method was originally specified to destroy an empty thread group.
    int
    enumerate(Thread[] list)
    Copies into the specified array every live platform thread in this thread group and its subgroups.
    int
    enumerate(Thread[] list, boolean recurse)
    Copies into the specified array every live platform thread in this thread group.
    int
    enumerate(ThreadGroup[] list)
    Copies into the specified array references to every subgroup in this thread group and its subgroups.
    int
    enumerate(ThreadGroup[] list, boolean recurse)
    Copies into the specified array references to every subgroup in this thread group.
    final int
    getMaxPriority()
    Returns the maximum priority of this thread group.
    final String
    getName()
    Returns the name of this thread group.
    final ThreadGroup
    getParent()
    Returns the parent of this thread group.
    final void
    interrupt()
    Interrupts all live platform threads in this thread group and its subgroups.
    final boolean
    isDaemon()
    Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
    This method originally indicated if the thread group is a daemon thread group that is automatically destroyed when its last thread terminates.
    boolean
    isDestroyed()
    Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
    This method originally indicated if the thread group is destroyed.
    void
    list()
    Prints information about this thread group to the standard output.
    final boolean
    parentOf(ThreadGroup g)
    Tests if this thread group is either the thread group argument or one of its ancestor thread groups.
    final void
    resume()
    Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
    This method was originally specified to resume all threads in the thread group.
    final void
    setDaemon(boolean daemon)
    Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
    This method originally configured whether the thread group is a daemon thread group that is automatically destroyed when its last thread terminates.
    final void
    setMaxPriority(int pri)
    Sets the maximum priority of the group.
    final void
    stop()
    Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
    This method was originally specified to stop all threads in the thread group.
    final void
    suspend()
    Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
    This method was originally specified to suspend all threads in the thread group.
    String
    toString()
    Returns a string representation of this Thread group.
    void
    uncaughtException(Thread t, Throwable e)
    Called by the Java Virtual Machine when a thread in this thread group stops because of an uncaught exception, and the thread does not have a specific Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler installed.

    Methods declared in class java.lang.Object

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

  • Constructor Details

    • ThreadGroup

      public ThreadGroup(String name)
      Constructs a new thread group. The parent of this new group is the thread group of the currently running thread.

      The checkAccess method of the parent thread group is called with no arguments; this may result in a security exception.

      Parameters:
      name - the name of the new thread group, can be null
      Throws:
      SecurityException - if the current thread cannot create a thread in the specified thread group.
      See Also:

    • ThreadGroup

      public ThreadGroup(ThreadGroup parent, String name)
      Creates a new thread group. The parent of this new group is the specified thread group.

      The checkAccess method of the parent thread group is called with no arguments; this may result in a security exception.

      Parameters:
      parent - the parent thread group.
      name - the name of the new thread group, can be null
      Throws:
      SecurityException - if the current thread cannot create a thread in the specified thread group.
      See Also:

  • Method Details

    • getName

      public final String getName()
      Returns the name of this thread group.
      Returns:
      the name of this thread group, may be null

    • getParent

      public final ThreadGroup getParent()
      Returns the parent of this thread group.

      First, if the parent is not null, the checkAccess method of the parent thread group is called with no arguments; this may result in a security exception.

      Returns:
      the parent of this thread group. The top-level thread group is the only thread group whose parent is null.
      Throws:
      SecurityException - if the current thread cannot modify this thread group.
      See Also:

    • getMaxPriority

      public final int getMaxPriority()
      Returns the maximum priority of this thread group. This is the maximum priority for new threads created in the thread group.
      Returns:
      the maximum priority for new threads created in the thread group
      See Also:

    • isDaemon

      @Deprecated(since="16", forRemoval=true) public final boolean isDaemon()
      Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
      This method originally indicated if the thread group is a daemon thread group that is automatically destroyed when its last thread terminates. The concept of daemon thread group no longer exists. A thread group is eligible to be GC'ed when there are no live threads in the group and it is otherwise unreachable.
      Returns the daemon status of this thread group. The daemon status is not used for anything.
      Returns:
      the daemon status of this thread group

    • isDestroyed

      @Deprecated(since="16", forRemoval=true) public boolean isDestroyed()
      Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
      This method originally indicated if the thread group is destroyed. The ability to destroy a thread group and the concept of a destroyed thread group no longer exists. A thread group is eligible to be GC'ed when there are no live threads in the group and it is otherwise unreachable.
      Returns false.
      Returns:
      false
      Since:
      1.1

    • setDaemon

      @Deprecated(since="16", forRemoval=true) public final void setDaemon(boolean daemon)
      Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
      This method originally configured whether the thread group is a daemon thread group that is automatically destroyed when its last thread terminates. The concept of daemon thread group no longer exists. A thread group is eligible to be GC'ed when there are no live threads in the group and it is otherwise unreachable.
      Sets the daemon status of this thread group. The daemon status is not used for anything.

      First, the checkAccess method of this thread group is called with no arguments; this may result in a security exception.

      Parameters:
      daemon - the daemon status
      Throws:
      SecurityException - if the current thread cannot modify this thread group.
      See Also:

    • setMaxPriority

      public final void setMaxPriority(int pri)
      Sets the maximum priority of the group. The maximum priority of the ThreadGroup for virtual threads is not changed by this method (the new priority is ignored). Threads in the thread group (or subgroups) that already have a higher priority are not affected by this method.

      First, the checkAccess method of this thread group is called with no arguments; this may result in a security exception.

      If the pri argument is less than Thread.MIN_PRIORITY or greater than Thread.MAX_PRIORITY, the maximum priority of the group remains unchanged.

      Otherwise, the priority of this ThreadGroup object is set to the smaller of the specified pri and the maximum permitted priority of the parent of this thread group. (If this thread group is the system thread group, which has no parent, then its maximum priority is simply set to pri.) Then this method is called recursively, with pri as its argument, for every thread group that belongs to this thread group.

      Parameters:
      pri - the new priority of the thread group.
      Throws:
      SecurityException - if the current thread cannot modify this thread group.
      See Also:

    • parentOf

      public final boolean parentOf(ThreadGroup g)
      Tests if this thread group is either the thread group argument or one of its ancestor thread groups.
      Parameters:
      g - a thread group, can be null
      Returns:
      true if this thread group is the thread group argument or one of its ancestor thread groups; false otherwise.

    • checkAccess

      @Deprecated(since="17", forRemoval=true) public final void checkAccess()
      Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
      This method is only useful in conjunction with the Security Manager, which is deprecated and subject to removal in a future release. Consequently, this method is also deprecated and subject to removal. There is no replacement for the Security Manager or this method.
      Determines if the currently running thread has permission to modify this thread group.

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

      Throws:
      SecurityException - if the current thread is not allowed to access this thread group.
      See Also:

    • activeCount

      public int activeCount()
      Returns an estimate of the number of live platform threads in this thread group and its subgroups. Virtual threads are not included in the estimate. This method recursively iterates over all subgroups in this thread group.

      The value returned is only an estimate because the number of threads may change dynamically while this method traverses internal data structures, and might be affected by the presence of certain system threads. This method is intended primarily for debugging and monitoring purposes.

      Returns:
      an estimate of the number of live threads in this thread group and in any other thread group that has this thread group as an ancestor

    • enumerate

      public int enumerate(Thread[] list)
      Copies into the specified array every live platform thread in this thread group and its subgroups. Virtual threads are not enumerated by this method.

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

      enumerate(list, true)
      Parameters:
      list - an array into which to put the list of threads
      Returns:
      the number of threads put into the array
      Throws:
      SecurityException - if checkAccess determines that the current thread cannot access this thread group

    • enumerate

      public int enumerate(Thread[] list, boolean recurse)
      Copies into the specified array every live platform thread in this thread group. Virtual threads are not enumerated by this method. If recurse is true, this method recursively enumerates all subgroups of this thread group and references to every live platform thread in these subgroups are also included. If the array is too short to hold all the threads, the extra threads are silently ignored.

      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 live thread in this thread group, the caller should verify that the returned int value is strictly less than the length of list.

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

      Parameters:
      list - an array into which to put the list of threads
      recurse - if true, recursively enumerate all subgroups of this thread group
      Returns:
      the number of threads put into the array
      Throws:
      SecurityException - if checkAccess determines that the current thread cannot access this thread group

    • activeGroupCount

      public int activeGroupCount()
      Returns an estimate of the number of groups in this thread group and its subgroups. Recursively iterates over all subgroups in this thread group.

      The value returned is only an estimate because the number of thread groups may change dynamically while this method traverses internal data structures. This method is intended primarily for debugging and monitoring purposes.

      Returns:
      the number of thread groups with this thread group as an ancestor

    • enumerate

      public int enumerate(ThreadGroup[] list)
      Copies into the specified array references to every subgroup in this thread group and its subgroups.

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

      enumerate(list, true)
      Parameters:
      list - an array into which to put the list of thread groups
      Returns:
      the number of thread groups put into the array
      Throws:
      SecurityException - if checkAccess determines that the current thread cannot access this thread group

    • enumerate

      public int enumerate(ThreadGroup[] list, boolean recurse)
      Copies into the specified array references to every subgroup in this thread group. If recurse is true, this method recursively enumerates all subgroups of this thread group and references to every thread group in these subgroups are also included.

      An application might use the activeGroupCount method to get an estimate of how big the array should be, however if the array is too short to hold all the thread groups, the extra thread groups are silently ignored. If it is critical to obtain every subgroup in this thread group, the caller should verify that the returned int value is strictly less than the length of list.

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

      Parameters:
      list - an array into which to put the list of thread groups
      recurse - if true, recursively enumerate all subgroups
      Returns:
      the number of thread groups put into the array
      Throws:
      SecurityException - if checkAccess determines that the current thread cannot access this thread group

    • stop

      @Deprecated(since="1.2", forRemoval=true) public final void stop()
      Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
      This method was originally specified to stop all threads in the thread group. It was inherently unsafe.
      Throws UnsupportedOperationException.

    • interrupt

      public final void interrupt()
      Interrupts all live platform threads in this thread group and its subgroups.
      Throws:
      SecurityException - if the current thread is not allowed to access this thread group or any of the threads in the thread group.
      Since:
      1.2
      See Also:

    • suspend

      @Deprecated(since="1.2", forRemoval=true) public final void suspend()
      Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
      This method was originally specified to suspend all threads in the thread group.
      Throws UnsupportedOperationException.

    • resume

      @Deprecated(since="1.2", forRemoval=true) public final void resume()
      Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
      This method was originally specified to resume all threads in the thread group.
      Throws UnsupportedOperationException.

    • destroy

      @Deprecated(since="16", forRemoval=true) public final void destroy()
      Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
      This method was originally specified to destroy an empty thread group. The ability to explicitly destroy a thread group no longer exists. A thread group is eligible to be GC'ed when there are no live threads in the group and it is otherwise unreachable.
      Does nothing.

    • list

      public void list()
      Prints information about this thread group to the standard output. This method is useful only for debugging.

    • uncaughtException

      public void uncaughtException(Thread t, Throwable e)
      Called by the Java Virtual Machine when a thread in this thread group stops because of an uncaught exception, and the thread does not have a specific Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler installed.

      The uncaughtException method of ThreadGroup does the following:

      • If this thread group has a parent thread group, the uncaughtException method of that parent is called with the same two arguments.
      • Otherwise, this method checks to see if there is a default uncaught exception handler installed, and if so, its uncaughtException method is called with the same two arguments.
      • Otherwise, a message containing the thread's name, as returned from the thread's getName method, and a stack backtrace, using the Throwable's printStackTrace method, is printed to the standard error stream.

      Applications can override this method in subclasses of ThreadGroup to provide alternative handling of uncaught exceptions.

      Specified by:
      uncaughtException in interface Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler
      Parameters:
      t - the thread that is about to exit.
      e - the uncaught exception.

    • allowThreadSuspension

      @Deprecated(since="1.2", forRemoval=true) public boolean allowThreadSuspension(boolean b)
      Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
      This method was originally intended for controlling suspension in low memory conditions. It was never specified.
      Does nothing.
      Parameters:
      b - ignored
      Returns:
      false
      Since:
      1.1

    • toString

      public String toString()
      Returns a string representation of this Thread group.
      Overrides:
      toString in class Object
      Returns:
      a string representation of this thread group.