Lua:createThread

<> Lua API Reference

function createThread(function(thread, ...), ... OPTIONAL) : Thread

Executes the given function in another thread using the system's thread mechanism.

The function returns a Thread class object. The thread function receives the Thread object as its first parameter, followed by any additional parameters passed to createThread.

Function Declaration

1 function(thread, ...)

Function Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
function	Function	The function to execute in the new thread. It receives the Thread object as its first argument.
...	Any OPTIONAL	Optional arguments that are passed to the thread function after the Thread object.

Returns

Thread — The created Thread object.

Examples

Create a basic thread

1 local thread = createThread(function(thread)
2   print("Thread started")
3 end)

Use the Thread parameter

1 local thread = createThread(function(thread)
2   print("Thread object: " .. tostring(thread))
3 end)

Pass arguments to the thread function

1 local text = "Hello from another thread"
2 local count = 3
3 
4 local thread = createThread(function(thread, message, repetitions)
5   for i = 1, repetitions do
6     print(message .. " #" .. tostring(i))
7   end
8 end, text, count)

Run repeated work in a thread

1 local thread = createThread(function(thread)
2   for i = 1, 5 do
3     print("Worker step " .. tostring(i))
4     sleep(500)
5   end
6 end)

Use synchronize for main-thread work

1 local thread = createThread(function(thread)
2   local result = "Finished background work"
3 
4   synchronize(function()
5     print(result)
6   end)
7 end)

Create a thread from a named function

1 local function worker(thread, message)
2   print(message)
3 end
4 
5 local message = "Running named worker"
6 
7 local thread = createThread(worker, message)

Pass multiple values

1 local thread = createThread(function(thread, a, b, c)
2   print("A: " .. tostring(a))
3   print("B: " .. tostring(b))
4   print("C: " .. tostring(c))
5 end, 10, "text", true)

Store the returned Thread object

1 local workerThread = createThread(function(thread)
2   print("Thread is running")
3 end)
4 
5 print("Returned thread: " .. tostring(workerThread))

Guard thread creation behind a condition

1 local shouldStart = true
2 
3 if shouldStart then
4   createThread(function(thread)
5     print("Conditional thread started")
6   end)
7 end

Main Pages

Core Lua documentation entry points

◆ Lua
◆ Script Engine

Thread Related Lua Functions

CPU information, process threads, main-thread execution, and queued callbacks

◆ getCPUCount ◆ getThreadlist ◆ inMainThread

◆ synchronize ◆ queue ◆ checkSynchronize