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127 changes: 118 additions & 9 deletions Doc/library/threading.rst
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -260,23 +260,132 @@ All of the methods described below are executed atomically.
Thread-Local Data
-----------------

Thread-local data is data whose values are thread specific. To manage
thread-local data, just create an instance of :class:`local` (or a
subclass) and store attributes on it::
Thread-local data is data whose values are thread specific. If you
have data that you want to be local to a thread, create a
:class:`local` object and use its attributes::

mydata = threading.local()
mydata.x = 1
>>> mydata = local()
>>> mydata.number = 42
>>> mydata.number
42

The instance's values will be different for separate threads.
You can also access the :class:`local`-object's dictionary::

>>> mydata.__dict__
{'number': 42}
>>> mydata.__dict__.setdefault('widgets', [])
[]
>>> mydata.widgets
[]

If we access the data in a different thread::

>>> log = []
>>> def f():
... items = sorted(mydata.__dict__.items())
... log.append(items)
... mydata.number = 11
... log.append(mydata.number)

>>> import threading
>>> thread = threading.Thread(target=f)
>>> thread.start()
>>> thread.join()
>>> log
[[], 11]

we get different data. Furthermore, changes made in the other thread
don't affect data seen in this thread::

>>> mydata.number
42

Of course, values you get from a :class:`local` object, including their
:attr:`~object.__dict__` attribute, are for whatever thread was current
at the time the attribute was read. For that reason, you generally
don't want to save these values across threads, as they apply only to
the thread they came from.

You can create custom :class:`local` objects by subclassing the
:class:`local` class::

>>> class MyLocal(local):
... number = 2
... def __init__(self, /, **kw):
... self.__dict__.update(kw)
... def squared(self):
... return self.number ** 2

This can be useful to support default values, methods and
initialization. Note that if you define an :py:meth:`~object.__init__`
method, it will be called each time the :class:`local` object is used
in a separate thread. This is necessary to initialize each thread's
dictionary.

Now if we create a :class:`local` object::

>>> mydata = MyLocal(color='red')

we have a default number::

>>> mydata.number
2

an initial color::

>>> mydata.color
'red'
>>> del mydata.color

And a method that operates on the data::

>>> mydata.squared()
4

As before, we can access the data in a separate thread::

>>> log = []
>>> thread = threading.Thread(target=f)
>>> thread.start()
>>> thread.join()
>>> log
[[('color', 'red')], 11]

without affecting this thread's data::

>>> mydata.number
2
>>> mydata.color
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
AttributeError: 'MyLocal' object has no attribute 'color'

Note that subclasses can define :term:`__slots__`, but they are not
thread local. They are shared across threads::

>>> class MyLocal(local):
... __slots__ = 'number'

>>> mydata = MyLocal()
>>> mydata.number = 42
>>> mydata.color = 'red'

So, the separate thread::

>>> thread = threading.Thread(target=f)
>>> thread.start()
>>> thread.join()

affects what we see::

>>> mydata.number
11


.. class:: local()

A class that represents thread-local data.

For more details and extensive examples, see the documentation string of the
:mod:`!_threading_local` module: :source:`Lib/_threading_local.py`.


.. _thread-objects:

Expand Down
122 changes: 0 additions & 122 deletions Lib/_threading_local.py
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -4,128 +4,6 @@
class. Depending on the version of Python you're using, there may be a
faster one available. You should always import the `local` class from
`threading`.)

Thread-local objects support the management of thread-local data.
If you have data that you want to be local to a thread, simply create
a thread-local object and use its attributes:

>>> mydata = local()
>>> mydata.number = 42
>>> mydata.number
42

You can also access the local-object's dictionary:

>>> mydata.__dict__
{'number': 42}
>>> mydata.__dict__.setdefault('widgets', [])
[]
>>> mydata.widgets
[]

What's important about thread-local objects is that their data are
local to a thread. If we access the data in a different thread:

>>> log = []
>>> def f():
... items = sorted(mydata.__dict__.items())
... log.append(items)
... mydata.number = 11
... log.append(mydata.number)

>>> import threading
>>> thread = threading.Thread(target=f)
>>> thread.start()
>>> thread.join()
>>> log
[[], 11]

we get different data. Furthermore, changes made in the other thread
don't affect data seen in this thread:

>>> mydata.number
42

Of course, values you get from a local object, including a __dict__
attribute, are for whatever thread was current at the time the
attribute was read. For that reason, you generally don't want to save
these values across threads, as they apply only to the thread they
came from.

You can create custom local objects by subclassing the local class:

>>> class MyLocal(local):
... number = 2
... def __init__(self, /, **kw):
... self.__dict__.update(kw)
... def squared(self):
... return self.number ** 2

This can be useful to support default values, methods and
initialization. Note that if you define an __init__ method, it will be
called each time the local object is used in a separate thread. This
is necessary to initialize each thread's dictionary.

Now if we create a local object:

>>> mydata = MyLocal(color='red')

Now we have a default number:

>>> mydata.number
2

an initial color:

>>> mydata.color
'red'
>>> del mydata.color

And a method that operates on the data:

>>> mydata.squared()
4

As before, we can access the data in a separate thread:

>>> log = []
>>> thread = threading.Thread(target=f)
>>> thread.start()
>>> thread.join()
>>> log
[[('color', 'red')], 11]

without affecting this thread's data:

>>> mydata.number
2
>>> mydata.color
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
AttributeError: 'MyLocal' object has no attribute 'color'

Note that subclasses can define slots, but they are not thread
local. They are shared across threads:

>>> class MyLocal(local):
... __slots__ = 'number'

>>> mydata = MyLocal()
>>> mydata.number = 42
>>> mydata.color = 'red'

So, the separate thread:

>>> thread = threading.Thread(target=f)
>>> thread.start()
>>> thread.join()

affects what we see:

>>> mydata.number
11

>>> del mydata
"""

from weakref import ref
Expand Down
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
Move documentation and example code for :class:`threading.local` from its
docstring to the official docs.
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