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pthread_kill(3) Library Functions Manual pthread_kill(3)
pthread_kill - send a signal to a thread
POSIX threads library (libpthread, -lpthread)
#include <signal.h>
int pthread_kill(pthread_t thread, int sig);
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see
feature_test_macros(7)):
pthread_kill():
_POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 199506L || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500
The pthread_kill() function sends the signal sig to thread, a
thread in the same process as the caller. The signal is
asynchronously directed to thread.
If sig is 0, then no signal is sent, but error checking is still
performed.
On success, pthread_kill() returns 0; on error, it returns an
error number, and no signal is sent.
EINVAL An invalid signal was specified.
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see
attributes(7).
┌──────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬─────────┐
│ Interface │ Attribute │ Value │
├──────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────┤
│ pthread_kill() │ Thread safety │ MT-Safe │
└──────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴─────────┘
The glibc implementation of pthread_kill() gives an error (EINVAL)
on attempts to send either of the real-time signals used
internally by the NPTL threading implementation. See nptl(7) for
details.
POSIX.1-2008 recommends that if an implementation detects the use
of a thread ID after the end of its lifetime, pthread_kill()
should return the error ESRCH. The glibc implementation returns
this error in the cases where an invalid thread ID can be
detected. But note also that POSIX says that an attempt to use a
thread ID whose lifetime has ended produces undefined behavior,
and an attempt to use an invalid thread ID in a call to
pthread_kill() can, for example, cause a segmentation fault.
POSIX.1-2008.
POSIX.1-2001.
Signal dispositions are process-wide: if a signal handler is
installed, the handler will be invoked in the thread thread, but
if the disposition of the signal is "stop", "continue", or
"terminate", this action will affect the whole process.
kill(2), sigaction(2), sigpending(2), pthread_self(3),
pthread_sigmask(3), raise(3), pthreads(7), signal(7)
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Linux man-pages 6.15 2025-05-17 pthread_kill(3)
Pages that refer to this page: pthread_sigmask(3), raise(3), nptl(7), pthreads(7), signal(7), signal-safety(7)