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1:mod:`concurrent.futures` --- Launching parallel tasks
2======================================================
3
4.. module:: concurrent.futures
5   :synopsis: Execute computations concurrently using threads or processes.
6
7.. versionadded:: 3.2
8
9**Source code:** :source:`Lib/concurrent/futures/thread.py`
10and :source:`Lib/concurrent/futures/process.py`
11
12--------------
13
14The :mod:`concurrent.futures` module provides a high-level interface for
15asynchronously executing callables.
16
17The asynchronous execution can be performed with threads, using
18:class:`ThreadPoolExecutor`, or separate processes, using
19:class:`ProcessPoolExecutor`.  Both implement the same interface, which is
20defined by the abstract :class:`Executor` class.
21
22
23Executor Objects
24----------------
25
26.. class:: Executor
27
28   An abstract class that provides methods to execute calls asynchronously.  It
29   should not be used directly, but through its concrete subclasses.
30
31    .. method:: submit(fn, *args, **kwargs)
32
33       Schedules the callable, *fn*, to be executed as ``fn(*args **kwargs)``
34       and returns a :class:`Future` object representing the execution of the
35       callable. ::
36
37          with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=1) as executor:
38              future = executor.submit(pow, 323, 1235)
39              print(future.result())
40
41    .. method:: map(func, *iterables, timeout=None, chunksize=1)
42
43       Similar to :func:`map(func, *iterables) <map>` except:
44
45       * the *iterables* are collected immediately rather than lazily;
46
47       * *func* is executed asynchronously and several calls to
48         *func* may be made concurrently.
49
50       The returned iterator raises a :exc:`concurrent.futures.TimeoutError`
51       if :meth:`~iterator.__next__` is called and the result isn't available
52       after *timeout* seconds from the original call to :meth:`Executor.map`.
53       *timeout* can be an int or a float.  If *timeout* is not specified or
54       ``None``, there is no limit to the wait time.
55
56       If a *func* call raises an exception, then that exception will be
57       raised when its value is retrieved from the iterator.
58
59       When using :class:`ProcessPoolExecutor`, this method chops *iterables*
60       into a number of chunks which it submits to the pool as separate
61       tasks.  The (approximate) size of these chunks can be specified by
62       setting *chunksize* to a positive integer.  For very long iterables,
63       using a large value for *chunksize* can significantly improve
64       performance compared to the default size of 1.  With
65       :class:`ThreadPoolExecutor`, *chunksize* has no effect.
66
67       .. versionchanged:: 3.5
68          Added the *chunksize* argument.
69
70    .. method:: shutdown(wait=True)
71
72       Signal the executor that it should free any resources that it is using
73       when the currently pending futures are done executing.  Calls to
74       :meth:`Executor.submit` and :meth:`Executor.map` made after shutdown will
75       raise :exc:`RuntimeError`.
76
77       If *wait* is ``True`` then this method will not return until all the
78       pending futures are done executing and the resources associated with the
79       executor have been freed.  If *wait* is ``False`` then this method will
80       return immediately and the resources associated with the executor will be
81       freed when all pending futures are done executing.  Regardless of the
82       value of *wait*, the entire Python program will not exit until all
83       pending futures are done executing.
84
85       You can avoid having to call this method explicitly if you use the
86       :keyword:`with` statement, which will shutdown the :class:`Executor`
87       (waiting as if :meth:`Executor.shutdown` were called with *wait* set to
88       ``True``)::
89
90          import shutil
91          with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=4) as e:
92              e.submit(shutil.copy, 'src1.txt', 'dest1.txt')
93              e.submit(shutil.copy, 'src2.txt', 'dest2.txt')
94              e.submit(shutil.copy, 'src3.txt', 'dest3.txt')
95              e.submit(shutil.copy, 'src4.txt', 'dest4.txt')
96
97
98ThreadPoolExecutor
99------------------
100
101:class:`ThreadPoolExecutor` is an :class:`Executor` subclass that uses a pool of
102threads to execute calls asynchronously.
103
104Deadlocks can occur when the callable associated with a :class:`Future` waits on
105the results of another :class:`Future`.  For example::
106
107   import time
108   def wait_on_b():
109       time.sleep(5)
110       print(b.result())  # b will never complete because it is waiting on a.
111       return 5
112
113   def wait_on_a():
114       time.sleep(5)
115       print(a.result())  # a will never complete because it is waiting on b.
116       return 6
117
118
119   executor = ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=2)
120   a = executor.submit(wait_on_b)
121   b = executor.submit(wait_on_a)
122
123And::
124
125   def wait_on_future():
126       f = executor.submit(pow, 5, 2)
127       # This will never complete because there is only one worker thread and
128       # it is executing this function.
129       print(f.result())
130
131   executor = ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=1)
132   executor.submit(wait_on_future)
133
134
135.. class:: ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=None, thread_name_prefix='', initializer=None, initargs=())
136
137   An :class:`Executor` subclass that uses a pool of at most *max_workers*
138   threads to execute calls asynchronously.
139
140   *initializer* is an optional callable that is called at the start of
141   each worker thread; *initargs* is a tuple of arguments passed to the
142   initializer.  Should *initializer* raise an exception, all currently
143   pending jobs will raise a :exc:`~concurrent.futures.thread.BrokenThreadPool`,
144   as well as any attempt to submit more jobs to the pool.
145
146   .. versionchanged:: 3.5
147      If *max_workers* is ``None`` or
148      not given, it will default to the number of processors on the machine,
149      multiplied by ``5``, assuming that :class:`ThreadPoolExecutor` is often
150      used to overlap I/O instead of CPU work and the number of workers
151      should be higher than the number of workers
152      for :class:`ProcessPoolExecutor`.
153
154   .. versionadded:: 3.6
155      The *thread_name_prefix* argument was added to allow users to
156      control the :class:`threading.Thread` names for worker threads created by
157      the pool for easier debugging.
158
159   .. versionchanged:: 3.7
160      Added the *initializer* and *initargs* arguments.
161
162   .. versionchanged:: 3.8
163      Default value of *max_workers* is changed to ``min(32, os.cpu_count() + 4)``.
164      This default value preserves at least 5 workers for I/O bound tasks.
165      It utilizes at most 32 CPU cores for CPU bound tasks which release the GIL.
166      And it avoids using very large resources implicitly on many-core machines.
167
168      ThreadPoolExecutor now reuses idle worker threads before starting
169      *max_workers* worker threads too.
170
171
172.. _threadpoolexecutor-example:
173
174ThreadPoolExecutor Example
175~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
176::
177
178   import concurrent.futures
179   import urllib.request
180
181   URLS = ['http://www.foxnews.com/',
182           'http://www.cnn.com/',
183           'http://europe.wsj.com/',
184           'http://www.bbc.co.uk/',
185           'http://some-made-up-domain.com/']
186
187   # Retrieve a single page and report the URL and contents
188   def load_url(url, timeout):
189       with urllib.request.urlopen(url, timeout=timeout) as conn:
190           return conn.read()
191
192   # We can use a with statement to ensure threads are cleaned up promptly
193   with concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=5) as executor:
194       # Start the load operations and mark each future with its URL
195       future_to_url = {executor.submit(load_url, url, 60): url for url in URLS}
196       for future in concurrent.futures.as_completed(future_to_url):
197           url = future_to_url[future]
198           try:
199               data = future.result()
200           except Exception as exc:
201               print('%r generated an exception: %s' % (url, exc))
202           else:
203               print('%r page is %d bytes' % (url, len(data)))
204
205
206ProcessPoolExecutor
207-------------------
208
209The :class:`ProcessPoolExecutor` class is an :class:`Executor` subclass that
210uses a pool of processes to execute calls asynchronously.
211:class:`ProcessPoolExecutor` uses the :mod:`multiprocessing` module, which
212allows it to side-step the :term:`Global Interpreter Lock` but also means that
213only picklable objects can be executed and returned.
214
215The ``__main__`` module must be importable by worker subprocesses. This means
216that :class:`ProcessPoolExecutor` will not work in the interactive interpreter.
217
218Calling :class:`Executor` or :class:`Future` methods from a callable submitted
219to a :class:`ProcessPoolExecutor` will result in deadlock.
220
221.. class:: ProcessPoolExecutor(max_workers=None, mp_context=None, initializer=None, initargs=())
222
223   An :class:`Executor` subclass that executes calls asynchronously using a pool
224   of at most *max_workers* processes.  If *max_workers* is ``None`` or not
225   given, it will default to the number of processors on the machine.
226   If *max_workers* is lower or equal to ``0``, then a :exc:`ValueError`
227   will be raised.
228   On Windows, *max_workers* must be equal or lower than ``61``. If it is not
229   then :exc:`ValueError` will be raised. If *max_workers* is ``None``, then
230   the default chosen will be at most ``61``, even if more processors are
231   available.
232   *mp_context* can be a multiprocessing context or None. It will be used to
233   launch the workers. If *mp_context* is ``None`` or not given, the default
234   multiprocessing context is used.
235
236   *initializer* is an optional callable that is called at the start of
237   each worker process; *initargs* is a tuple of arguments passed to the
238   initializer.  Should *initializer* raise an exception, all currently
239   pending jobs will raise a :exc:`~concurrent.futures.process.BrokenProcessPool`,
240   as well any attempt to submit more jobs to the pool.
241
242   .. versionchanged:: 3.3
243      When one of the worker processes terminates abruptly, a
244      :exc:`BrokenProcessPool` error is now raised.  Previously, behaviour
245      was undefined but operations on the executor or its futures would often
246      freeze or deadlock.
247
248   .. versionchanged:: 3.7
249      The *mp_context* argument was added to allow users to control the
250      start_method for worker processes created by the pool.
251
252      Added the *initializer* and *initargs* arguments.
253
254
255.. _processpoolexecutor-example:
256
257ProcessPoolExecutor Example
258~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
259::
260
261   import concurrent.futures
262   import math
263
264   PRIMES = [
265       112272535095293,
266       112582705942171,
267       112272535095293,
268       115280095190773,
269       115797848077099,
270       1099726899285419]
271
272   def is_prime(n):
273       if n < 2:
274           return False
275       if n == 2:
276           return True
277       if n % 2 == 0:
278           return False
279
280       sqrt_n = int(math.floor(math.sqrt(n)))
281       for i in range(3, sqrt_n + 1, 2):
282           if n % i == 0:
283               return False
284       return True
285
286   def main():
287       with concurrent.futures.ProcessPoolExecutor() as executor:
288           for number, prime in zip(PRIMES, executor.map(is_prime, PRIMES)):
289               print('%d is prime: %s' % (number, prime))
290
291   if __name__ == '__main__':
292       main()
293
294
295Future Objects
296--------------
297
298The :class:`Future` class encapsulates the asynchronous execution of a callable.
299:class:`Future` instances are created by :meth:`Executor.submit`.
300
301.. class:: Future
302
303   Encapsulates the asynchronous execution of a callable.  :class:`Future`
304   instances are created by :meth:`Executor.submit` and should not be created
305   directly except for testing.
306
307    .. method:: cancel()
308
309       Attempt to cancel the call.  If the call is currently being executed or
310       finished running and cannot be cancelled then the method will return
311       ``False``, otherwise the call will be cancelled and the method will
312       return ``True``.
313
314    .. method:: cancelled()
315
316       Return ``True`` if the call was successfully cancelled.
317
318    .. method:: running()
319
320       Return ``True`` if the call is currently being executed and cannot be
321       cancelled.
322
323    .. method:: done()
324
325       Return ``True`` if the call was successfully cancelled or finished
326       running.
327
328    .. method:: result(timeout=None)
329
330       Return the value returned by the call. If the call hasn't yet completed
331       then this method will wait up to *timeout* seconds.  If the call hasn't
332       completed in *timeout* seconds, then a
333       :exc:`concurrent.futures.TimeoutError` will be raised. *timeout* can be
334       an int or float.  If *timeout* is not specified or ``None``, there is no
335       limit to the wait time.
336
337       If the future is cancelled before completing then :exc:`.CancelledError`
338       will be raised.
339
340       If the call raised, this method will raise the same exception.
341
342    .. method:: exception(timeout=None)
343
344       Return the exception raised by the call.  If the call hasn't yet
345       completed then this method will wait up to *timeout* seconds.  If the
346       call hasn't completed in *timeout* seconds, then a
347       :exc:`concurrent.futures.TimeoutError` will be raised.  *timeout* can be
348       an int or float.  If *timeout* is not specified or ``None``, there is no
349       limit to the wait time.
350
351       If the future is cancelled before completing then :exc:`.CancelledError`
352       will be raised.
353
354       If the call completed without raising, ``None`` is returned.
355
356    .. method:: add_done_callback(fn)
357
358       Attaches the callable *fn* to the future.  *fn* will be called, with the
359       future as its only argument, when the future is cancelled or finishes
360       running.
361
362       Added callables are called in the order that they were added and are
363       always called in a thread belonging to the process that added them.  If
364       the callable raises an :exc:`Exception` subclass, it will be logged and
365       ignored.  If the callable raises a :exc:`BaseException` subclass, the
366       behavior is undefined.
367
368       If the future has already completed or been cancelled, *fn* will be
369       called immediately.
370
371   The following :class:`Future` methods are meant for use in unit tests and
372   :class:`Executor` implementations.
373
374    .. method:: set_running_or_notify_cancel()
375
376       This method should only be called by :class:`Executor` implementations
377       before executing the work associated with the :class:`Future` and by unit
378       tests.
379
380       If the method returns ``False`` then the :class:`Future` was cancelled,
381       i.e. :meth:`Future.cancel` was called and returned `True`.  Any threads
382       waiting on the :class:`Future` completing (i.e. through
383       :func:`as_completed` or :func:`wait`) will be woken up.
384
385       If the method returns ``True`` then the :class:`Future` was not cancelled
386       and has been put in the running state, i.e. calls to
387       :meth:`Future.running` will return `True`.
388
389       This method can only be called once and cannot be called after
390       :meth:`Future.set_result` or :meth:`Future.set_exception` have been
391       called.
392
393    .. method:: set_result(result)
394
395       Sets the result of the work associated with the :class:`Future` to
396       *result*.
397
398       This method should only be used by :class:`Executor` implementations and
399       unit tests.
400
401       .. versionchanged:: 3.8
402          This method raises
403          :exc:`concurrent.futures.InvalidStateError` if the :class:`Future` is
404          already done.
405
406    .. method:: set_exception(exception)
407
408       Sets the result of the work associated with the :class:`Future` to the
409       :class:`Exception` *exception*.
410
411       This method should only be used by :class:`Executor` implementations and
412       unit tests.
413
414       .. versionchanged:: 3.8
415          This method raises
416          :exc:`concurrent.futures.InvalidStateError` if the :class:`Future` is
417          already done.
418
419Module Functions
420----------------
421
422.. function:: wait(fs, timeout=None, return_when=ALL_COMPLETED)
423
424   Wait for the :class:`Future` instances (possibly created by different
425   :class:`Executor` instances) given by *fs* to complete.  Returns a named
426   2-tuple of sets.  The first set, named ``done``, contains the futures that
427   completed (finished or cancelled futures) before the wait completed.  The
428   second set, named ``not_done``, contains the futures that did not complete
429   (pending or running futures).
430
431   *timeout* can be used to control the maximum number of seconds to wait before
432   returning.  *timeout* can be an int or float.  If *timeout* is not specified
433   or ``None``, there is no limit to the wait time.
434
435   *return_when* indicates when this function should return.  It must be one of
436   the following constants:
437
438   .. tabularcolumns:: |l|L|
439
440   +-----------------------------+----------------------------------------+
441   | Constant                    | Description                            |
442   +=============================+========================================+
443   | :const:`FIRST_COMPLETED`    | The function will return when any      |
444   |                             | future finishes or is cancelled.       |
445   +-----------------------------+----------------------------------------+
446   | :const:`FIRST_EXCEPTION`    | The function will return when any      |
447   |                             | future finishes by raising an          |
448   |                             | exception.  If no future raises an     |
449   |                             | exception then it is equivalent to     |
450   |                             | :const:`ALL_COMPLETED`.                |
451   +-----------------------------+----------------------------------------+
452   | :const:`ALL_COMPLETED`      | The function will return when all      |
453   |                             | futures finish or are cancelled.       |
454   +-----------------------------+----------------------------------------+
455
456.. function:: as_completed(fs, timeout=None)
457
458   Returns an iterator over the :class:`Future` instances (possibly created by
459   different :class:`Executor` instances) given by *fs* that yields futures as
460   they complete (finished or cancelled futures). Any futures given by *fs* that
461   are duplicated will be returned once. Any futures that completed before
462   :func:`as_completed` is called will be yielded first.  The returned iterator
463   raises a :exc:`concurrent.futures.TimeoutError` if :meth:`~iterator.__next__`
464   is called and the result isn't available after *timeout* seconds from the
465   original call to :func:`as_completed`.  *timeout* can be an int or float. If
466   *timeout* is not specified or ``None``, there is no limit to the wait time.
467
468
469.. seealso::
470
471   :pep:`3148` -- futures - execute computations asynchronously
472      The proposal which described this feature for inclusion in the Python
473      standard library.
474
475
476Exception classes
477-----------------
478
479.. currentmodule:: concurrent.futures
480
481.. exception:: CancelledError
482
483   Raised when a future is cancelled.
484
485.. exception:: TimeoutError
486
487   Raised when a future operation exceeds the given timeout.
488
489.. exception:: BrokenExecutor
490
491   Derived from :exc:`RuntimeError`, this exception class is raised
492   when an executor is broken for some reason, and cannot be used
493   to submit or execute new tasks.
494
495   .. versionadded:: 3.7
496
497.. exception:: InvalidStateError
498
499   Raised when an operation is performed on a future that is not allowed
500   in the current state.
501
502   .. versionadded:: 3.8
503
504.. currentmodule:: concurrent.futures.thread
505
506.. exception:: BrokenThreadPool
507
508   Derived from :exc:`~concurrent.futures.BrokenExecutor`, this exception
509   class is raised when one of the workers of a :class:`ThreadPoolExecutor`
510   has failed initializing.
511
512   .. versionadded:: 3.7
513
514.. currentmodule:: concurrent.futures.process
515
516.. exception:: BrokenProcessPool
517
518   Derived from :exc:`~concurrent.futures.BrokenExecutor` (formerly
519   :exc:`RuntimeError`), this exception class is raised when one of the
520   workers of a :class:`ProcessPoolExecutor` has terminated in a non-clean
521   fashion (for example, if it was killed from the outside).
522
523   .. versionadded:: 3.3
524