# love.thread

Available since LÖVE 0.7.0
This module is not supported in earlier versions.

Allows you to work with threads.

Threads are separate Lua environments, running in parallel to the main code. As their code runs separately, they can be used to compute complex operations without adversely affecting the frame rate of the main thread. However, as they are separate environments, they cannot access the variables and functions of the main thread, and communication between threads is limited.

All LOVE objects (userdata) are shared among threads so you'll only have to send their references across threads. You may run into concurrency issues if you manipulate an object on multiple threads at the same time.

When a Thread is started, it only loads the love.thread module. Every other module has to be loaded with require.

| The love.graphics and love.window modules have several restrictions and therefore should only be used in the main thread. |

| Unless you define the love.threaderror callback or call Thread:getError you won't see any errors your thread code throws. |

| If your get "module not found" error in your thread, include love.filesystem first. This will fix require paths. |

## Types

Channel | An object which can be used to send and receive data between different threads. | 0.9.0 |
Thread | A Thread represents a thread. | 0.7.0 |

## Functions

love.thread.getChannel | Creates or retrieves a named thread channel. | 0.9.0 |
love.thread.getThread | Look for a thread and get its object. | 0.7.0 | 0.9.0
love.thread.getThreads | Get all threads. | 0.7.0 | 0.9.0
love.thread.newChannel | Creates a new unnamed thread channel. | 0.9.0 |
love.thread.newThread | Creates a new Thread from a Lua file or FileData object. | 0.7.0 |

## Examples

For 0.9.0: http://love2d.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=76670

## See Also

- love

##

Category:

- Modules