QThread Class

 class Worker : public QObject
 {
     Q_OBJECT

 public slots:
     void doWork(const QString &parameter) {
         QString result;
         /* ... here is the expensive or blocking operation ... */
         emit resultReady(result);
     }

 signals:
     void resultReady(const QString &result);
 };

 class Controller : public QObject
 {
     Q_OBJECT
     QThread workerThread;
 public:
     Controller() {
         Worker *worker = new Worker;
         worker->moveToThread(&workerThread);
         connect(&workerThread, &QThread::finished, worker, &QObject::deleteLater);
         connect(this, &Controller::operate, worker, &Worker::doWork);
         connect(worker, &Worker::resultReady, this, &Controller::handleResults);
         workerThread.start();
     }
     ~Controller() {
         workerThread.quit();
         workerThread.wait();
     }
 public slots:
     void handleResults(const QString &);
 signals:
     void operate(const QString &);
 };

 class WorkerThread : public QThread
 {
     Q_OBJECT
     void run() override {
         QString result;
         /* ... here is the expensive or blocking operation ... */
         emit resultReady(result);
     }
 signals:
     void resultReady(const QString &s);
 };

 void MyObject::startWorkInAThread()
 {
     WorkerThread *workerThread = new WorkerThread(this);
     connect(workerThread, &WorkerThread::resultReady, this, &MyObject::handleResults);
     connect(workerThread, &WorkerThread::finished, workerThread, &QObject::deleteLater);
     workerThread->start();
 }

Member Function Documentation

[explicit] QThread::QThread(QObject *parent = nullptr)

Constructs a new QThread to manage a new thread. The parent takes ownership of the QThread. The thread does not begin executing until start() is called.

See also start().

[virtual noexcept] QThread::~QThread()

Destroys the QThread.

Note that deleting a QThread object will not stop the execution of the thread it manages. Deleting a running QThread (i.e. isFinished() returns false) will result in a program crash. Wait for the finished() signal before deleting the QThread.

Since Qt 6.3, it is allowed to delete a QThread instance created by a call to QThread::create() even if the corresponding thread is still running. In such a case, Qt will post an interruption request to that thread (via requestInterruption()); will ask the thread's event loop (if any) to quit (via quit()); and will block until the thread has finished.

See also create(), isInterruptionRequested(), exec(), and quit().

[static] template <typename Function, typename... Args> QThread *QThread::create(Function &&f, Args &&... args)

Creates a new QThread object that will execute the function f with the arguments args.

The new thread is not started – it must be started by an explicit call to start(). This allows you to connect to its signals, move QObjects to the thread, choose the new thread's priority and so on. The function f will be called in the new thread.

Returns the newly created QThread instance.

See also start().

[static] QThread *QThread::currentThread()

Returns a pointer to a QThread which manages the currently executing thread.

[static noexcept] Qt::HANDLE QThread::currentThreadId()

Returns the thread handle of the currently executing thread.

[override virtual] bool QThread::event(QEvent *event)

Reimplements: QObject::event(QEvent *e).

QAbstractEventDispatcher *QThread::eventDispatcher() const

Returns a pointer to the event dispatcher object for the thread. If no event dispatcher exists for the thread, this function returns nullptr.

See also setEventDispatcher().

[protected] int QThread::exec()

Enters the event loop and waits until exit() is called, returning the value that was passed to exit(). The value returned is 0 if exit() is called via quit().

This function is meant to be called from within run(). It is necessary to call this function to start event handling.

See also quit() and exit().

[slot] void QThread::exit(int returnCode = 0)

Tells the thread's event loop to exit with a return code.

After calling this function, the thread leaves the event loop and returns from the call to QEventLoop::exec(). The QEventLoop::exec() function returns returnCode.

By convention, a returnCode of 0 means success, any non-zero value indicates an error.

Note that unlike the C library function of the same name, this function does return to the caller – it is event processing that stops.

No QEventLoops will be started anymore in this thread until QThread::exec() has been called again. If the eventloop in QThread::exec() is not running then the next call to QThread::exec() will also return immediately.

Note: This function is thread-safe.

See also quit() and QEventLoop.

[private signal] void QThread::finished()

This signal is emitted from the associated thread right before it finishes executing.

When this signal is emitted, the event loop has already stopped running. No more events will be processed in the thread, except for deferred deletion events. This signal can be connected to QObject::deleteLater(), to free objects in that thread.

See also started().

[static noexcept] int QThread::idealThreadCount()

Returns the ideal number of threads that this process can run in parallel. This is done by querying the number of logical processors available to this process (if supported by this OS) or the total number of logical processors in the system. This function returns 1 if neither value could be determined.

[noexcept, since 6.8] bool QThread::isCurrentThread() const

Returns true if this thread is QThread::currentThread.

This function was introduced in Qt 6.8.

See also currentThreadId().

bool QThread::isFinished() const

Returns true if the thread is finished; otherwise returns false.

Note: This function is thread-safe.

See also isRunning().

bool QThread::isInterruptionRequested() const

Return true if the task running on this thread should be stopped. An interruption can be requested by requestInterruption().

This function can be used to make long running tasks cleanly interruptible. Never checking or acting on the value returned by this function is safe, however it is advisable do so regularly in long running functions. Take care not to call it too often, to keep the overhead low.

 void long_task() {
      forever {
         if ( QThread::currentThread()->isInterruptionRequested() ) {
             return;
         }
     }
 }

See also currentThread() and requestInterruption().

[static noexcept, since 6.8] bool QThread::isMainThread()

Returns whether the currently executing thread is the main thread.

The main thread is the thread in which QCoreApplication was created. This is usually the thread that called the main() function, but not necessarily so. It is the thread that is processing the GUI events and in which graphical objects (QWindow, QWidget) can be created.

This function was introduced in Qt 6.8.

See also currentThread() and QCoreApplication::instance().

bool QThread::isRunning() const

Returns true if the thread is running; otherwise returns false.

Note: This function is thread-safe.

See also isFinished().

int QThread::loopLevel() const

Returns the current event loop level for the thread.

[static] void QThread::msleep(unsigned long msecs)

This is an overloaded function, equivalent to calling:

 QThread::sleep(std::chrono::milliseconds{msecs});

See also sleep() and usleep().

QThread::Priority QThread::priority() const

Returns the priority for a running thread. If the thread is not running, this function returns InheritPriority.

See also Priority, setPriority(), and start().

[slot] void QThread::quit()

Tells the thread's event loop to exit with return code 0 (success). Equivalent to calling QThread::exit(0).

This function does nothing if the thread does not have an event loop.

Note: This function is thread-safe.

See also exit() and QEventLoop.

void QThread::requestInterruption()

Request the interruption of the thread. That request is advisory and it is up to code running on the thread to decide if and how it should act upon such request. This function does not stop any event loop running on the thread and does not terminate it in any way.

Note: This function is thread-safe.

See also isInterruptionRequested().

[virtual protected] void QThread::run()

The starting point for the thread. After calling start(), the newly created thread calls this function. The default implementation simply calls exec().

You can reimplement this function to facilitate advanced thread management. Returning from this method will end the execution of the thread.

See also start() and wait().

void QThread::setEventDispatcher(QAbstractEventDispatcher *eventDispatcher)

Sets the event dispatcher for the thread to eventDispatcher. This is only possible as long as there is no event dispatcher installed for the thread yet.

An event dispatcher is automatically created for the main thread when QCoreApplication is instantiated and on start() for auxiliary threads.

This method takes ownership of the object.

See also eventDispatcher().

void QThread::setPriority(QThread::Priority priority)

This function sets the priority for a running thread. If the thread is not running, this function does nothing and returns immediately. Use start() to start a thread with a specific priority.

The priority argument can be any value in the QThread::Priority enum except for InheritPriority.

The effect of the priority parameter is dependent on the operating system's scheduling policy. In particular, the priority will be ignored on systems that do not support thread priorities (such as on Linux, see http://linux.die.net/man/2/sched_setscheduler for more details).

See also Priority, priority(), and start().

void QThread::setStackSize(uint stackSize)

Sets the stack size for the thread to stackSize. If stackSize is zero, the operating system or runtime will choose a default value. Otherwise, the thread's stack size will be the value provided (which may be rounded up or down).

On most operating systems, the amount of memory allocated to serve the stack will initially be smaller than stackSize and will grow as the thread uses the stack. This parameter sets the maximum size it will be allowed to grow to (that is, it sets the size of the virtual memory space the stack is allowed to occupy).

This function can only be called before the thread is started.

See also stackSize().

[static protected] void QThread::setTerminationEnabled(bool enabled = true)

Enables or disables termination of the current thread based on the enabled parameter. The thread must have been started by QThread.

When enabled is false, termination is disabled. Future calls to QThread::terminate() will return immediately without effect. Instead, the termination is deferred until termination is enabled.

When enabled is true, termination is enabled. Future calls to QThread::terminate() will terminate the thread normally. If termination has been deferred (i.e. QThread::terminate() was called with termination disabled), this function will terminate the calling thread immediately. Note that this function will not return in this case.

See also terminate().

[static, since 6.6] void QThread::sleep(std::chrono::nanoseconds nsecs)

Forces the current thread to sleep for nsecs.

Avoid using this function if you need to wait for a given condition to change. Instead, connect a slot to the signal that indicates the change or use an event handler (see QObject::event()).

This function was introduced in Qt 6.6.

[static] void QThread::sleep(unsigned long secs)

Forces the current thread to sleep for secs seconds.

This is an overloaded function, equivalent to calling:

 QThread::sleep(std::chrono::seconds{secs});

See also msleep() and usleep().

uint QThread::stackSize() const

Returns the maximum stack size for the thread (if set with setStackSize()); otherwise returns zero.

See also setStackSize().

[slot] void QThread::start(QThread::Priority priority = InheritPriority)

Begins execution of the thread by calling run(). The operating system will schedule the thread according to the priority parameter. If the thread is already running, this function does nothing.

The effect of the priority parameter is dependent on the operating system's scheduling policy. In particular, the priority will be ignored on systems that do not support thread priorities (such as on Linux, see the sched_setscheduler documentation for more details).

See also run() and terminate().

[private signal] void QThread::started()

This signal is emitted from the associated thread when it starts executing, so any slots connected to it may be called via queued invocation. Whilst the event may have been posted before run() is called, any cross-thread delivery of the signal may still be pending.

See also run() and finished().

[slot] void QThread::terminate()

Terminates the execution of the thread. The thread may or may not be terminated immediately, depending on the operating system's scheduling policies. Use QThread::wait() after terminate(), to be sure.

When the thread is terminated, all threads waiting for the thread to finish will be woken up.

Termination can be explicitly enabled or disabled by calling QThread::setTerminationEnabled(). Calling this function while termination is disabled results in the termination being deferred, until termination is re-enabled. See the documentation of QThread::setTerminationEnabled() for more information.

Note: This function is thread-safe.

See also setTerminationEnabled().

[static] void QThread::usleep(unsigned long usecs)

This is an overloaded function, equivalent to calling:

 QThread::sleep(std::chrono::microseconds{secs});

See also sleep() and msleep().

bool QThread::wait(QDeadlineTimer deadline = QDeadlineTimer(QDeadlineTimer::Forever))

Blocks the thread until either of these conditions is met:

• The thread associated with this QThread object has finished execution (i.e. when it returns from run()). This function will return true if the thread has finished. It also returns true if the thread has not been started yet.
• The deadline is reached. This function will return false if the deadline is reached.

A deadline timer set to QDeadlineTimer::Forever (the default) will never time out: in this case, the function only returns when the thread returns from run() or if the thread has not yet started.

This provides similar functionality to the POSIX pthread_join() function.

See also sleep() and terminate().

bool QThread::wait(unsigned long time)

This is an overloaded function.

time is the time to wait in milliseconds. If time is ULONG_MAX, then the wait will never timeout.

[static] void QThread::yieldCurrentThread()

Yields execution of the current thread to another runnable thread, if any. Note that the operating system decides to which thread to switch.