Thread & InterruptedException

• If a thread is not active, Thread.interrupt() will not have any effects on it and Thread.isInterrupted() will remain to be false.

public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
	Thread t = new Thread() {
		@Override
		public void run() {
			System.out.println("Hello, world");
		}
	};
	t.interrupt();
	System.out.println("isInterrupted:" + t.isInterrupted()); // false
	t.start();
	TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(1l); // wait for t to be dead
	t.interrupt();
	System.out.println("isInterrupted:" + t.isInterrupted()); // false
}

• If a thread is interrupted by other threads without throwing InterruptedException, Thread.isInterrupted() will be true.

public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
	Thread t = new Thread() {
		@Override
		public void run() {
			System.out.println("isInterrupted:" + this.isInterrupted()); // false

			for (;;) {
			}
		}
	};

	t.start();
	TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(1l); // wait for t to be active
	t.interrupt();
	System.out.println("isInterrupted:" + t.isInterrupted()); // true
}

• If a thread is interrupted by other threads which results in InterruptedException, Thread.isInterrupted() will remain to be false if the exception is caught.

public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
	Thread t = new Thread() {
		@Override
		public void run() {
			System.out.println("isInterrupted:" + this.isInterrupted()); // false

			try {
				TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(5l);
			} catch (InterruptedException e) {
				// nothing to do
			}

			System.out.println("isInterrupted:" + this.isInterrupted()); // false
		}
	};

	t.start();
	TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(1l); // wait for t to sleep
	t.interrupt();
}

• Therefore, one of the best ways to handle InterruptedException is to invoke Thread.interrupt() which indicates a thread was interrupted.

public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
	Thread t = new Thread() {
		@Override
		public void run() {
			System.out.println("isInterrupted:" + this.isInterrupted()); // false

			try {
				TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(5l);
			} catch (InterruptedException e) {
				this.interrupt();
			}

			System.out.println("isInterrupted:" + this.isInterrupted()); // true
		}
	};

	t.start();
	TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(1l); // wait for t to sleep
	t.interrupt();
}

• Moreover, if a thread is interrupted which means Thread.isInterrupted() returns true, the following codes will be affected.

public static void main(String[] args) {
	Thread t = new Thread() {
		@Override
		public void run() {
			while (!this.isInterrupted()) {
			}

			System.out.println("Before sleep.");
			try {
				TimeUnit.MINUTES.sleep(5);    // has no effect
			} catch (InterruptedException e) {
				System.out.println("Catch InterruptedException."); // will be printed immediately
				Thread.interrupted();
			}
			System.out.println("After sleep.");
		}
	};

	t.start();
	t.interrupt();
}