std::mutex

 

C++

Language

Standard library headers

Concepts

Utilities library

Strings library

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Algorithms library

Iterators library

Numerics library

Input/output library

Localizations library

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Atomic operations library (C++11)

Thread support library (C++11)

Technical Specifications

 

Thread support library

Threads
thread (C++11)
this_thread namespace
get_id (C++11) yield (C++11)	sleep_for (C++11) sleep_until (C++11)
Mutual exclusion
mutex (C++11) recursive_mutex (C++11) shared_mutex (C++17)	timed_mutex (C++11) recursive_timed_mutex (C++11) shared_timed_mutex (C++14)
Generic lock management
lock_guard (C++11) unique_lock (C++11) shared_lock (C++14) defer_lock_ttry_to_lock_tadopt_lock_t (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)	lock (C++11) try_lock (C++11) defer_locktry_to_lockadopt_lock (C++11)(C++11)(C++11) once_flag (C++11) call_once (C++11)
Condition variables
condition_variable (C++11)
condition_variable_any (C++11)
notify_all_at_thread_exit (C++11)
cv_status (C++11)
Futures
promise (C++11) future (C++11) shared_future (C++11) packaged_task (C++11) async (C++11)	launch (C++11) future_status (C++11) future_error (C++11) future_category (C++11) future_errc (C++11)

 

std::mutex

Member functions

mutex::mutex

mutex::~mutex

Locking

mutex::lock

mutex::try_lock

mutex::unlock

Native handle

mutex::native_handle

 

Defined in header <mutex>
class mutex;		(since C++11)

The mutex class is a synchronization primitive that can be used to protect shared data from being simultaneously accessed by multiple threads.

mutex offers exclusive, non-recursive ownership semantics:

• A calling thread owns a mutex from the time that it successfully calls either lock or try_lock until it calls unlock.
• When a thread owns a mutex, all other threads will block (for calls to lock) or receive a false return value (for try_lock) if they attempt to claim ownership of the mutex.
• A calling thread must not own the mutex prior to calling lock or try_lock.

The behavior of a program is undefined if a mutex is destroyed while still owned by some thread. The mutex class satisfies all requirements of Mutex and StandardLayoutType.

std::mutex is neither copyable nor movable.

Member types

Member type	Definition
native_handle_type	implementation-defined

Member functions

(constructor)	constructs the mutex (public member function)
(destructor)	destroys the mutex (public member function)
operator= [deleted]	not copy-assignable (public member function)
Locking
lock	locks the mutex, blocks if the mutex is not available (public member function)
try_lock	tries to lock the mutex, returns if the mutex is not available (public member function)
unlock	unlocks the mutex (public member function)
Native handle
native_handle	returns the underlying implementation-defined thread handle (public member function)

Notes

std::mutex is usually not accessed directly: std::unique_lock and std::lock_guard are used to manage locking in exception-safe manner.

Example

This example shows how a mutex can be used to protect a std::map shared between two threads.

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <map>
#include <string>
#include <chrono>
#include <thread>
#include <mutex>
 
std::map<std::string, std::string> g_pages;
std::mutex g_pages_mutex;
 
void save_page(const std::string &url)
{
    // simulate a long page fetch
    std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::seconds(2));
    std::string result = "fake content";
 
    std::lock_guard<std::mutex> guard(g_pages_mutex);
    g_pages[url] = result;
}
 
int main() 
{
    std::thread t1(save_page, "http://foo");
    std::thread t2(save_page, "http://bar");
    t1.join();
    t2.join();
 
    // safe to access g_pages without lock now, as the threads are joined
    for (const auto &pair : g_pages) {
        std::cout << pair.first << " => " << pair.second << '\n';
    }
}

Output:

http://bar => fake content
http://foo => fake content