PTHREAD_CREATE(3) Library Functions Manual PTHREAD_CREATE(3)

pthread_createcreate a new thread

#include <pthread.h>

int
pthread_create(pthread_t *thread, const pthread_attr_t *attr, void *(*start_routine)(void *), void *arg);

The () function is used to create a new thread, with attributes specified by attr, within a process. If attr is NULL, the default attributes are used. If the attributes specified by attr are modified later, the thread's attributes are not affected. Upon successful completion pthread_create() will store the ID of the created thread in the location specified by thread.

The thread is created executing start_routine with arg as its sole argument. If the start_routine returns, the effect is as if there was an implicit call to () using the return value of start_routine as the exit status. Note that the thread in which () was originally invoked differs from this. When it returns from main(), the effect is as if there was an implicit call to () using the return value of main() as the exit status.

Upon thread exit the storage for the thread must be reclaimed by another thread via a call to (). Alternatively, () may be called on the thread to indicate that the system may automatically reclaim the thread storage upon exit. The () function may be used on the attr argument passed to pthread_create() in order to achieve the same effect as a call to pthread_detach() on the newly created thread.

The signal state of the new thread is initialized as:

If successful, the pthread_create() function will return zero. Otherwise an error number will be returned to indicate the error.

The pthread_create() function will fail if:

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The system lacked the necessary resources to create another thread, or the system-imposed limit on the total number of threads in a process [PTHREAD_THREADS_MAX] would be exceeded.
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The caller does not have appropriate permission to set the required scheduling parameters or scheduling policy.
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The value specified by attr is invalid.

fork(2), pthread_attr(3), pthread_cancel(3), pthread_cleanup_pop(3), pthread_cleanup_push(3), pthread_exit(3), pthread_join(3)

The pthread_create() function conforms to ISO/IEC 9945-1:1996 (“POSIX.1”).

March 15, 2014 macOS 15.2