Have a thread own the functor it runs C++

Question

If you want to run a functor in a new thread in c++ you have to create the functor object and then pass a reference to it into the thread constructor. This works but leaves you with a thread and the functor object as separate things. Is it possible to have a thread that owns the functor itself that will get cleaned up when join is called on the thread? A possible API could be something like thread<FunctorType>(args, for, functor) that will create the functor object within the thread class and then run it.

Answer 1

Yes, ofcourse. The constructor

template< class Function, class... Args >
explicit thread( Function&& f, Args&&... args );

accepts a function object as a forwarding reference. This implies it will move the function if you provide it an rvalue.

E.g.

#include <thread>
#include <iostream>

struct F
{
    auto operator()() { std::cout << "Hello World" << std::endl; }
};

auto test()
{
    std::thread t1{[]{ std::cout << "Hello World" << std::endl; }};

    std::thread t2{F{}};

    t1.join();
    t2.join();
}