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c++multithreadingc++11stdstdthread

How to suspend (and resume) 'std::thread' from another thread?

I am new to std::thread. I need to put a std::thread to sleep from another thread, is that possible? In examples, all I see is code like:

std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::seconds(1));

But what I want to do is something like:

std::thread t([]{...});
t.sleep(std::chrono::seconds(1));

or sleep(t, std::chrono::seconds(1));

Any ideas?

Solution

  • Because sleep_for is synchronous, it only really makes sense in the current thread. What you want is a way to suspend / resume other threads. The standard does not provide a way to do this (afaik), but you can use platform-dependent methods using native_handle.

    For example on Windows, SuspendThread and ResumeThread.

    But more important is that there is almost never a need to do this. Usually when you encounter basic things you need that the standard doesn't provide, it's a red flag that you're heading down a dangerous design path. Consider accomplishing your bigger goal in a different way.