multithreading - Python creating a shared variable between threads

Question

I'm working on a project in Python using the "thread" module.

How can I make a global variable (in my case I need it to be True or False) that all the threads in my project (about 4-6) can access?

Answer 1

We can define the variable outside the thread classes and declare it global inside the methods of the classes.

Please see below trivial example which prints AB alternatively. Two variables flag and val are shared between two threads Thread_A and Thread_B. Thread_A prints val=20 and then sets val to 30. Thread_B prints val=30, since val is modified in Thread_A. Thread_B then sets val to 20 which is again used in Thread_A. This demonstrates that variable val is shared between two threads. Similarly variable flag is also shared between two threads.

import threading
import time
c = threading.Condition()
flag = 0      #shared between Thread_A and Thread_B
val = 20

class Thread_A(threading.Thread):
    def __init__(self, name):
        threading.Thread.__init__(self)
        self.name = name

    def run(self):
        global flag
        global val     #made global here
        while True:
            c.acquire()
            if flag == 0:
                print "A: val=" + str(val)
                time.sleep(0.1)
                flag = 1
                val = 30
                c.notify_all()
            else:
                c.wait()
            c.release()


class Thread_B(threading.Thread):
    def __init__(self, name):
        threading.Thread.__init__(self)
        self.name = name

    def run(self):
        global flag
        global val    #made global here
        while True:
            c.acquire()
            if flag == 1:
                print "B: val=" + str(val)
                time.sleep(0.5)
                flag = 0
                val = 20
                c.notify_all()
            else:
                c.wait()
            c.release()


a = Thread_A("myThread_name_A")
b = Thread_B("myThread_name_B")

b.start()
a.start()

a.join()
b.join()

Output looks like

A: val=20
B: val=30
A: val=20
B: val=30
A: val=20
B: val=30
A: val=20
B: val=30

Each thread prints the value which was modified in another thread.

Answer 2

With no clue as to what you are really trying to do, either go with nio's approach and use locks, or consider condition variables:

From the docs

# Consume one item
cv.acquire()
while not an_item_is_available():
    cv.wait()
get_an_available_item()
cv.release()

# Produce one item
cv.acquire()
make_an_item_available()
cv.notify()
cv.release()

You can use this to let one thread tell another a condition has been met, without having to think about the locks explicitly. This example uses cv to signify that an item is available.