Pthreads
execution model which allows for parallel computing
In computing, POSIX Threads, commonly known as pthreads (after its header <pthread.h>), is an execution model that exists independently from a programming language, as well as a parallel execution model. It allows a program to control multiple different flows of work that overlap in time. Each flow of work is referred to as a thread, and creation and control over these flows is achieved by making calls to the POSIX Threads API. POSIX Threads is an API defined by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard POSIX.1c, Threads extensions (IEEE Std 1003.1c-1995).
Implementations of the API are available on many Unix-like POSIX-conformant operating systems such as FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Linux, macOS, Android, Solaris, Redox, QNX, and AUTOSAR Adaptive, typically bundled as a library libpthread. DR-DOS and Microsoft Windows implementations also exist: within the SFU/SUA subsystem which provides a native implementation of a number of POSIX APIs, and also within third-party packages such as pthreads-w32, which implements pthreads on top of existing Windows API.
Contents
pthreads defines a set of C programming language types, functions and constants. It is implemented with a pthread.h header and a thread library.
There are around 100 threads procedures, all prefixed pthread_ and they can be categorized into five groups:
Thread management – creating, joining threads etc.
Mutexes
Condition variables
Synchronization between threads using read write locks and barriers
Spinlocks
The POSIX semaphore API works with POSIX threads but is not part of the threads standard, having been defined in the POSIX.1b, Real-time extensions (IEEE Std 1003.1b-1993) standard. Consequently, the semaphore procedures are prefixed by sem_ instead of pthread_.
Example
An example illustrating the use of pthreads in C:
This program creates five threads, each executing the function perform_work that prints the unique number of this thread to standard output.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Pthreads” as execution model which allows for parallel computing. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q928112. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1003, 1995 and 1993.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pthreads” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.