std::recursive_mutex

 

C++

Compiler support

Freestanding and hosted

Language

Standard library

Standard library headers

Named requirements

Feature test macros (C++20)

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Metaprogramming library (C++11)

Diagnostics library

General utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Iterators library

Ranges library (C++20)

Algorithms library

Numerics library

Localizations library

Input/output library

Filesystem library (C++17)

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Concurrency support library (C++11)

Execution support library (C++26)

Technical specifications

Symbols index

External libraries

 

Concurrency support library

Threads thread (C++11) jthread (C++20) hardware_destructive_interference_sizehardware_constructive_interference_size (C++17)(C++17) this_thread namespace get_id (C++11) yield (C++11) sleep_for (C++11) sleep_until (C++11) Cooperative cancellation stop_token (C++20) inplace_stop_token (C++26) never_stop_token (C++26) stop_source (C++20) inplace_stop_source (C++26)   stop_callback (C++20) inplace_stop_callback (C++26) stop_callback_for_t (C++26) stoppable_token (C++26) unstoppable_token (C++26) stoppable-source (C++26) stoppable-callback-for (C++26)   Mutual exclusion mutex (C++11) recursive_mutex (C++11) shared_mutex (C++17) timed_mutex (C++11) recursive_timed_mutex (C++11) shared_timed_mutex (C++14) Generic lock management lock (C++11) lock_guard (C++11) scoped_lock (C++17) unique_lock (C++11) shared_lock (C++14) once_flag (C++11) call_once (C++11) try_lock (C++11) defer_locktry_to_lockadopt_lockdefer_lock_ttry_to_lock_tadopt_lock_t (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)(C++11)(C++11)(C++11) Condition variables condition_variable (C++11) condition_variable_any (C++11) notify_all_at_thread_exit (C++11) cv_status (C++11) Semaphores counting_semaphorebinary_semaphore (C++20)(C++20) Latches and Barriers latch (C++20) barrier (C++20) Futures promise (C++11) future (C++11) shared_future (C++11) packaged_task (C++11) async (C++11) launch (C++11) future_status (C++11) future_error (C++11) future_category (C++11) future_errc (C++11) Safe Reclamation rcu_obj_base (C++26) rcu_domain (C++26) rcu_default_domain (C++26) rcu_synchronize (C++26) rcu_barrier (C++26) rcu_retire (C++26) Hazard Pointers hazard_pointer_obj_base (C++26) hazard_pointer (C++26) make_hazard_pointer (C++26)

Atomic types atomic (C++11) atomic_ref (C++20) atomic_flag (C++11) Initialization of atomic types atomic_init (C++11)(deprecated in C++20) ATOMIC_VAR_INIT (C++11)(deprecated in C++20) ATOMIC_FLAG_INIT (C++11) Memory ordering memory_order (C++11) kill_dependency (C++11) atomic_thread_fence (C++11) atomic_signal_fence (C++11) Free functions for atomic operations atomic_storeatomic_store_explicit (C++11)(C++11) atomic_loadatomic_load_explicit (C++11)(C++11) atomic_exchangeatomic_exchange_explicit (C++11)(C++11) atomic_compare_exchange_weakatomic_compare_exchange_weak_explicitatomic_compare_exchange_strongatomic_compare_exchange_strong_explicit (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)(C++11) atomic_fetch_addatomic_fetch_add_explicit (C++11)(C++11) atomic_fetch_subatomic_fetch_sub_explicit (C++11)(C++11) atomic_fetch_andatomic_fetch_and_explicit (C++11)(C++11) atomic_fetch_oratomic_fetch_or_explicit (C++11)(C++11) atomic_fetch_xoratomic_fetch_xor_explicit (C++11)(C++11) atomic_fetch_maxatomic_fetch_max_explicit (C++26)(C++26) atomic_fetch_minatomic_fetch_min_explicit (C++26)(C++26) atomic_is_lock_free (C++11) atomic_waitatomic_wait_explicit (C++20)(C++20) atomic_notify_one (C++20) atomic_notify_all (C++20) Free functions for atomic flags atomic_flag_test_and_setatomic_flag_test_and_set_explicit (C++11)(C++11) atomic_flag_clearatomic_flag_clear_explicit (C++11)(C++11) atomic_flag_testatomic_flag_test_explicit (C++20)(C++20) atomic_flag_waitatomic_flag_wait_explicit (C++20)(C++20) atomic_flag_notify_one (C++20) atomic_flag_notify_all (C++20)

 

std::recursive_mutex

Member functions

recursive_mutex::recursive_mutex

recursive_mutex::~recursive_mutex

Locking

recursive_mutex::lock

recursive_mutex::try_lock

recursive_mutex::unlock

Native handle

recursive_mutex::native_handle

 

Defined in header <mutex>
class recursive_mutex;		(since C++11)

The recursive_mutex class is a synchronization primitive that can be used to protect shared data from being simultaneously accessed by multiple threads.

recursive_mutex offers exclusive, recursive ownership semantics:

• A calling thread owns a recursive_mutex for a period of time that starts when it successfully calls either lock or try_lock. During this period, the thread may make additional calls to lock or try_lock. The period of ownership ends when the thread makes a matching number of calls to unlock.
• When a thread owns a recursive_mutex, all other threads will block (for calls to lock) or receive a false return value (for try_lock) if they attempt to claim ownership of the recursive_mutex.
• The maximum number of times that a recursive_mutex may be locked is unspecified, but after that number is reached, calls to lock will throw std::system_error and calls to try_lock will return false.

The behavior of a program is undefined if a recursive_mutex is destroyed while still owned by some thread. The recursive_mutex class satisfies all requirements of Mutex and StandardLayoutType.

Member types

Member type	Definition
native_handle_type (optional*)	implementation-defined

Member functions

(constructor)	constructs the mutex (public member function)
(destructor)	destroys the mutex (public member function)
operator= [deleted]	not copy-assignable (public member function)
Locking
lock	locks the mutex, blocks if the mutex is not available (public member function)
try_lock	tries to lock the mutex, returns if the mutex is not available (public member function)
unlock	unlocks the mutex (public member function)
Native handle
native_handle	returns the underlying implementation-defined native handle object (public member function)

Example

One use case for recursive_mutex is protecting shared state in a class whose member functions may call each other.

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <mutex>
#include <thread>
 
class X
{
    std::recursive_mutex m;
    std::string shared;
public:
    void fun1()
    {
        std::lock_guard<std::recursive_mutex> lk(m);
        shared = "fun1";
        std::cout << "in fun1, shared variable is now " << shared << '\n';
    }
    void fun2()
    {
        std::lock_guard<std::recursive_mutex> lk(m);
        shared = "fun2";
        std::cout << "in fun2, shared variable is now " << shared << '\n';
        fun1(); // recursive lock becomes useful here
        std::cout << "back in fun2, shared variable is " << shared << '\n';
    }
};
 
int main() 
{
    X x;
    std::thread t1(&X::fun1, &x);
    std::thread t2(&X::fun2, &x);
    t1.join();
    t2.join();
}

Possible output:

in fun1, shared variable is now fun1
in fun2, shared variable is now fun2
in fun1, shared variable is now fun1
back in fun2, shared variable is fun1

See also

mutex (C++11)

provides basic mutual exclusion facility (class)