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 is allowed to access information about its own thread group, but not to access information about its thread group's parent thread group or any other thread groups.

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 active threads in this thread group and its subgroups.
`int`
`activeGroupCount()`
Returns an estimate of the number of active 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.
The definition of this call depends on `suspend()`, which is deprecated.
`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.
The API and mechanism for destroying a ThreadGroup is inherently flawed.
`int`
`enumerate(Thread[] list)`
Copies into the specified array every active thread in this thread group and its subgroups.
`int`
`enumerate(Thread[] list, boolean recurse)`
Copies into the specified array every active thread in this thread group.
`int`
`enumerate(ThreadGroup[] list)`
Copies into the specified array references to every active subgroup in this thread group and its subgroups.
`int`
`enumerate(ThreadGroup[] list, boolean recurse)`
Copies into the specified array references to every active 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 threads in this thread group.
`final boolean`
`isDaemon()`
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
The API and mechanism for destroying a ThreadGroup is inherently flawed.
`boolean`
`isDestroyed()`
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
The API and mechanism for destroying a ThreadGroup is inherently flawed.
`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 is used solely in conjunction with `Thread.suspend` and `ThreadGroup.suspend`, both of which have been deprecated, as they are inherently deadlock-prone.
`final void`
`setDaemon(boolean daemon)`
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
The API and mechanism for destroying a ThreadGroup is inherently flawed.
`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 is inherently unsafe.
`final void`
`suspend()`
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
This method is inherently deadlock-prone.
`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.
Throws:
  `SecurityException` - if the current thread cannot create a thread in the specified thread group.
Since:
  1.0
See Also:
  - `checkAccess()`

### 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.
Throws:
  `NullPointerException` - if the thread group argument is `null`.
  `SecurityException` - if the current thread cannot create a thread in the specified thread group.
Since:
  1.0
See Also:
  - `SecurityException`
  - `checkAccess()`

## Method Details

### getName

public final String getName()
Returns the name of this thread group.

Returns:
  the name of this thread group.
Since:
  1.0

### 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.
Since:
  1.0
See Also:
  - `checkAccess()`
  - `SecurityException`
  - `RuntimePermission`

### getMaxPriority

public final int getMaxPriority()
Returns the maximum priority of this thread group. Threads that are part of this group cannot have a higher priority than the maximum priority.

Returns:
  the maximum priority that a thread in this thread group can have.
Since:
  1.0
See Also:
  - `setMaxPriority(int)`

### isDaemon

@Deprecated(since="16", forRemoval=true) public final boolean isDaemon()
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
The API and mechanism for destroying a ThreadGroup is inherently flawed. The ability to explicitly or automatically destroy a thread group, and the concept of daemon thread group, will be removed in a future release.
Tests if this thread group is a daemon thread group. A daemon thread group is automatically destroyed when its last thread is stopped or its last thread group is destroyed.

Returns:
  `true` if this thread group is a daemon thread group; `false` otherwise.
Since:
  1.0

### isDestroyed

@Deprecated(since="16", forRemoval=true) public boolean isDestroyed()
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
The API and mechanism for destroying a ThreadGroup is inherently flawed. The ability to explicitly or automatically destroy a thread group will be removed in a future release.
Tests if this thread group has been destroyed.

Returns:
  true if this object is destroyed
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.
The API and mechanism for destroying a ThreadGroup is inherently flawed. The ability to explicitly or automatically destroy a thread group, and the concept of daemon thread group, will be removed in a future release.
Changes the daemon status of this thread group.

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

A daemon thread group is automatically destroyed when its last thread is stopped or its last thread group is destroyed.

Parameters:
  `daemon` - if `true`, marks this thread group as a daemon thread group; otherwise, marks this thread group as normal.
Throws:
  `SecurityException` - if the current thread cannot modify this thread group.
Since:
  1.0
See Also:
  - `SecurityException`
  - `checkAccess()`

### setMaxPriority

public final void setMaxPriority(int pri)
Sets the maximum priority of the group. Threads in the thread group that already have a higher priority are not affected.

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.
Since:
  1.0
See Also:
  - `getMaxPriority()`
  - `SecurityException`
  - `checkAccess()`

### 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.
Returns:
  `true` if this thread group is the thread group argument or one of its ancestor thread groups; `false` otherwise.
Since:
  1.0

### 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.
Since:
  1.0
See Also:
  - `SecurityManager.checkAccess(java.lang.ThreadGroup)`

### activeCount

public int activeCount()
Returns an estimate of the number of active threads 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 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 active threads in this thread group and in any other thread group that has this thread group as an ancestor
Since:
  1.0

### enumerate

public int enumerate(Thread[] list)
Copies into the specified array every active thread 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 threads
Returns:
  the number of threads put into the array
Throws:
  `SecurityException` - if checkAccess determines that the current thread cannot access this thread group
Since:
  1.0

### enumerate

public int enumerate(Thread[] list, boolean recurse)
Copies into the specified array every active thread in this thread group. If `recurse` is `true`, this method recursively enumerates all subgroups of this thread group and references to every active 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 active 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
Since:
  1.0

### activeGroupCount

public int activeGroupCount()
Returns an estimate of the number of active 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 active thread groups with this thread group as an ancestor
Since:
  1.0

### enumerate

public int enumerate(ThreadGroup[] list)
Copies into the specified array references to every active 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
Since:
  1.0

### enumerate

public int enumerate(ThreadGroup[] list, boolean recurse)
Copies into the specified array references to every active subgroup in this thread group. If `recurse` is `true`, this method recursively enumerates all subgroups of this thread group and references to every active 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 active 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
Since:
  1.0

### 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 is inherently unsafe. See `Thread.stop()` for details.
Stops all threads in this thread group.

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

This method then calls the `stop` method on all the threads in this thread group and in all of 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:
  1.0
See Also:
  - `SecurityException`
  - `Thread.stop()`
  - `checkAccess()`

### interrupt

public final void interrupt()
Interrupts all threads in this thread group.

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

This method then calls the `interrupt` method on all the threads in this thread group and in all of 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:
  - `Thread.interrupt()`
  - `SecurityException`
  - `checkAccess()`

### 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 is inherently deadlock-prone. See `Thread.suspend()` for details.
Suspends all threads in this thread group.

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

This method then calls the `suspend` method on all the threads in this thread group and in all of 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:
  1.0
See Also:
  - `Thread.suspend()`
  - `SecurityException`
  - `checkAccess()`

### 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 is used solely in conjunction with `Thread.suspend` and `ThreadGroup.suspend`, both of which have been deprecated, as they are inherently deadlock-prone. See `Thread.suspend()` for details.
Resumes all threads in this thread group.

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

This method then calls the `resume` method on all the threads in this thread group and in all of its sub groups.

Throws:
  `SecurityException` - if the current thread is not allowed to access this thread group or any of the threads in the thread group.
Since:
  1.0
See Also:
  - `SecurityException`
  - `Thread.resume()`
  - `checkAccess()`

### destroy

@Deprecated(since="16", forRemoval=true) public final void destroy()
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.
The API and mechanism for destroying a ThreadGroup is inherently flawed. The ability to explicitly or automatically destroy a thread group will be removed in a future release.
Destroys this thread group and all of its subgroups. This thread group must be empty, indicating that all threads that had been in this thread group have since stopped.

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

Throws:
  `IllegalThreadStateException` - if the thread group is not empty or if the thread group has already been destroyed.
  `SecurityException` - if the current thread cannot modify this thread group.
Since:
  1.0
See Also:
  - `checkAccess()`

### list

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

Since:
  1.0

### 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, this method determines if the `Throwable` argument is an instance of `ThreadDeath`. If so, nothing special is done. 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.
Since:
  1.0

### 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.
The definition of this call depends on `suspend()`, which is deprecated. Further, the behavior of this call was never specified.
Used by VM to control lowmem implicit suspension.

Parameters:
  `b` - boolean to allow or disallow suspension
Returns:
  true on success
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.
Since:
  1.0