Grouping Threads

Every Java thread is a member of a thread group. Thread groups provide a mechanism for collecting multiple threads into a single object and manipulating those threads all at once, rather than individually.

For example, you can start or suspend all the threads within a group with a single method call. Java thread groups are implemented by the ThreadGroup [(in the API reference documentation)] class in the java.lang package. The runtime system puts a thread into a thread group during thread construction. When you create a thread, you can either allow the runtime system to put the new thread in a reasonable default group or you can explicitly set the new thread's group. The thread is a permanent member of whatever thread group it joins upon its creation; you cannot move a thread to a new group after the thread has been created.