std::async

Defined in header `<future>`
	(1)
template< class Function, class... Args> std::future<typename std::result_of<Function(Args...)>::type> async( Function&& f, Args&&... args );			(since C++11) (until C++14)
template< class Function, class... Args> std::future<std::result_of_t<std::decay_t<Function>(std::decay_t<Args>...)>> async( Function&& f, Args&&... args );			(since C++14)
		(2)
template< class Function, class... Args > std::future<typename std::result_of<Function(Args...)>::type> async( std::launch policy, Function&& f, Args&&... args );				(since C++11) (until C++14)
template< class Function, class... Args > std::future<std::result_of_t<std::decay_t<Function>(std::decay_t<Args>...)>> async( std::launch policy, Function&& f, Args&&... args );				(since C++14)

The template function async runs the function f asynchronously (potentially in a separate thread which may be part of a thread pool) and returns a std::future that will eventually hold the result of that function call.

1) Behaves the same as async(std::launch::async | std::launch::deferred, f, args...). In other words, f may be executed in another thread or it may be run synchronously when the resulting std::future is queried for a value.

2) Calls a function f with arguments args according to a specific launch policy policy:

If the async flag is set (i.e. policy & std::launch::async != 0), then async executes the function f on a new thread of execution (with all thread-locals initialized) as if spawned by std::thread(f, args...), except that if the function f returns a value or throws an exception, it is stored in the shared state accessible through the std::future that async returns to the caller.
If the deferred flag is set (i.e. policy & std::launch::deferred != 0), then async converts args... the same way as by std::thread constructor, but does not spawn a new thread of execution. Instead, lazy evaluation is performed: the first call to a non-timed wait function on the std::future that async returned to the caller will cause f(args...) to be executed in the current thread (which does not have to be the thread that originally called std::async). The result or exception is placed in the shared state associated with the future and only then it is made ready. All further accesses to the same std::future will return the result immediately.
If both the std::launch::async and std::launch::deferred flags are set in policy, it is up to the implementation whether to perform asynchronous execution or lazy evaluation.

If neither std::launch::async nor std::launch::deferred, nor any implementation-defined policy flag is set in policy, the behavior is undefined.

(since C++14)

In any case, the call to std::async synchronizes-with (as defined in std::memory_order) the call to f, and the completion of f is sequenced-before making the shared state ready. If the async policy is chosen, the associated thread completion synchronizes-with the successful return from the first function that is waiting on the shared state, or with the return of the last function that releases the shared state, whichever comes first.

Throws std::system_error with error condition std::errc::resource_unavailable_try_again if the launch policy equals std::launch::async and the implementation is unable to start a new thread (if the policy is async|deferred or has additional bits set, it will fall back to deferred or the implementation-defined policies in this case)

[edit] Notes

The implementation may extend the behavior of the first overload of std::async by enabling additional (implementation-defined) bits in the default launch policy.

Examples of implementation-defined launch policies are the sync policy (execute immediately, within the async call) and the task policy (similar to async, but thread-locals are not cleared)

If the std::future obtained from std::async has temporary object lifetime (not moved or bound to a variable), the destructor of the std::future will block at the end of the full expression until the asynchronous operation completes, essentially code such as the following synchronous:

std::async(std::launch::async, []{ f(); }); // temporary's dtor waits for f()
std::async(std::launch::async, []{ g(); }); // does not start until f() completes

(note that the destructors of std::futures obtained by means other than a call to std::async never block)

[edit] Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
#include <numeric>
#include <future>
 
template <typename RAIter>
int parallel_sum(RAIter beg, RAIter end)
{
    auto len = end - beg;
    if(len < 1000)
        return std::accumulate(beg, end, 0);
 
    RAIter mid = beg + len/2;
    auto handle = std::async(std::launch::async,
                              parallel_sum<RAIter>, mid, end);
    int sum = parallel_sum(beg, mid);
    return sum + handle.get();
}
 
int main()
{
    std::vector<int> v(10000, 1);
    std::cout << "The sum is " << parallel_sum(v.begin(), v.end()) << '\n';
}

Output:

The sum is 10000

Language
Standard library headers
Concepts
Utilities library
Strings library
Containers library
Algorithms library
Iterators library
Numerics library
Input/output library
Localizations library
Regular expressions library (C++11)
Atomic operations library (C++11)
Thread support library (C++11)
Technical Specifications

std::async

Contents

[edit] Parameters

[edit] Return value

[edit] Exceptions

[edit] Notes

[edit] Example