'\" et
.TH PTHREAD_KEY_CREATE "3P" 2013 "IEEE/The Open Group" "POSIX Programmer's Manual"
.SH PROLOG
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.
The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult
the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior),
or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

.SH NAME
pthread_key_create
\(em thread-specific data key creation
.SH SYNOPSIS
.LP
.nf
#include <pthread.h>
.P
int pthread_key_create(pthread_key_t *\fIkey\fP, void (*\fIdestructor\fP)(void*));
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
\fIpthread_key_create\fR()
function shall create a thread-specific data key visible to all threads
in the process. Key values provided by
\fIpthread_key_create\fR()
are opaque objects used to locate thread-specific data. Although the
same key value may be used by different threads, the values bound to
the key by
\fIpthread_setspecific\fR()
are maintained on a per-thread basis and persist for the life of the
calling thread.
.P
Upon key creation, the value NULL shall be associated with the new key
in all active threads. Upon thread creation, the value NULL shall be
associated with all defined keys in the new thread.
.P
An optional destructor function may be associated with each key value.
At thread exit, if a key value has a non-NULL destructor pointer, and
the thread has a non-NULL value associated with that key, the value of
the key is set to NULL, and then the function pointed to is called with
the previously associated value as its sole argument. The order of
destructor calls is unspecified if more than one destructor exists for
a thread when it exits.
.P
If, after all the destructors have been called for all non-NULL values
with associated destructors, there are still some non-NULL values with
associated destructors, then the process is repeated. If, after at
least
{PTHREAD_DESTRUCTOR_ITERATIONS}
iterations of destructor calls for outstanding non-NULL values, there
are still some non-NULL values with associated destructors,
implementations may stop calling destructors, or they may continue
calling destructors until no non-NULL values with associated
destructors exist, even though this might result in an infinite loop.
.SH "RETURN VALUE"
If successful, the
\fIpthread_key_create\fR()
function shall store the newly created key value at *\fIkey\fP and
shall return zero. Otherwise, an error number shall be returned to
indicate the error.
.SH ERRORS
The
\fIpthread_key_create\fR()
function shall fail if:
.TP
.BR EAGAIN
The system lacked the necessary resources to create another
thread-specific data key, or the system-imposed limit on the total
number of keys per process
{PTHREAD_KEYS_MAX}
has been exceeded.
.TP
.BR ENOMEM
Insufficient memory exists to create the key.
.P
The
\fIpthread_key_create\fR()
function shall not return an error code of
.BR [EINTR] .
.LP
.IR "The following sections are informative."
.SH EXAMPLES
The following example demonstrates a function that initializes a
thread-specific data key when it is first called, and associates a
thread-specific object with each calling thread, initializing this
object when necessary.
.sp
.RS 4
.nf
\fB
static pthread_key_t key;
static pthread_once_t key_once = PTHREAD_ONCE_INIT;
.P
static void
make_key()
{
    (void) pthread_key_create(&key, NULL);
}
.P
func()
{
    void *ptr;
.P
    (void) pthread_once(&key_once, make_key);
    if ((ptr = pthread_getspecific(key)) == NULL) {
        ptr = malloc(OBJECT_SIZE);
        ...
        (void) pthread_setspecific(key, ptr);
    }
    ...
}
.fi \fR
.P
.RE
.P
Note that the key has to be initialized before
\fIpthread_getspecific\fR()
or
\fIpthread_setspecific\fR()
can be used. The
\fIpthread_key_create\fR()
call could either be explicitly made in a module initialization
routine, or it can be done implicitly by the first call to a module as
in this example. Any attempt to use the key before it is initialized
is a programming error, making the code below incorrect.
.sp
.RS 4
.nf
\fB
static pthread_key_t key;
.P
func()
{
    void *ptr;
.P
   /* KEY NOT INITIALIZED!!!  THIS WON'T WORK!!! */
    if ((ptr = pthread_getspecific(key)) == NULL &&
        pthread_setspecific(key, NULL) != 0) {
        pthread_key_create(&key, NULL);
        ...
    }
}
.fi \fR
.P
.RE
.SH "APPLICATION USAGE"
None.
.br
.SH RATIONALE
.SS "Destructor Functions"
.P
Normally, the value bound to a key on behalf of a particular thread is
a pointer to storage allocated dynamically on behalf of the calling
thread. The destructor functions specified with
\fIpthread_key_create\fR()
are intended to be used to free this storage when the thread exits.
Thread
cancellation cleanup handlers cannot be used for this purpose because
thread-specific data may persist outside the lexical scope in which the
cancellation cleanup handlers operate.
.P
If the value associated with a key needs to be updated during the
lifetime of the thread, it may be necessary to release the storage
associated with the old value before the new value is bound. Although
the
\fIpthread_setspecific\fR()
function could do this automatically, this feature is not needed often
enough to justify the added complexity. Instead, the programmer is
responsible for freeing the stale storage:
.sp
.RS 4
.nf
\fB
pthread_getspecific(key, &old);
new = allocate();
destructor(old);
pthread_setspecific(key, new);
.fi \fR
.P
.RE
.TP 10
.BR Note:
The above example could leak storage if run with asynchronous
cancellation enabled. No such problems occur in the default cancellation
state if no cancellation points occur between the get and set.
.P
.P
There is no notion of a destructor-safe function. If an application
does not call
\fIpthread_exit\fR()
from a signal handler, or if it blocks any signal whose handler may
call
\fIpthread_exit\fR()
while calling async-unsafe functions, all functions may be safely
called from destructors.
.SS "Non-Idempotent Data Key Creation"
.P
There were requests to make
\fIpthread_key_create\fR()
idempotent with respect to a given
.IR key
address parameter. This would allow applications to call
\fIpthread_key_create\fR()
multiple times for a given
.IR key
address and be guaranteed that only one key would be created. Doing so
would require the key value to be previously initialized (possibly at
compile time) to a known null value and would require that implicit
mutual-exclusion be performed based on the address and contents of the
.IR key
parameter in order to guarantee that exactly one key would be created.
.P
Unfortunately, the implicit mutual-exclusion would not be limited to
only
\fIpthread_key_create\fR().
On many implementations, implicit mutual-exclusion would also have to
be performed by
\fIpthread_getspecific\fR()
and
\fIpthread_setspecific\fR()
in order to guard against using incompletely stored or not-yet-visible
key values. This could significantly increase the cost of important
operations, particularly
\fIpthread_getspecific\fR().
.P
Thus, this proposal was rejected. The
\fIpthread_key_create\fR()
function performs no implicit synchronization. It is the
responsibility of the programmer to ensure that it is called exactly
once per key before use of the key. Several straightforward mechanisms
can already be used to accomplish this, including calling explicit
module initialization functions, using mutexes, and using
\fIpthread_once\fR().
This places no significant burden on the programmer, introduces no
possibly confusing \fIad hoc\fP implicit synchronization mechanism, and
potentially allows commonly used thread-specific data operations to be
more efficient.
.SH "FUTURE DIRECTIONS"
None.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.IR "\fIpthread_getspecific\fR\^(\|)",
.IR "\fIpthread_key_delete\fR\^(\|)"
.P
The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1\(hy2008,
.IR "\fB<pthread.h>\fP"
.SH COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
-- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group.
(This is POSIX.1-2008 with the 2013 Technical Corrigendum 1 applied.) In the
event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at
http://www.unix.org/online.html .

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