std::atomic::compare_exchange_weak, std::atomic::compare_exchange_strong

 

C++

Language

Standard library headers

Concepts

Utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Algorithms library

Iterators library

Numerics library

Input/output library

Localizations library

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Atomic operations library (C++11)

Thread support library (C++11)

Filesystem library (C++17)

Technical Specifications

 

Atomic operations library

Types

atomic (C++11)

atomic_is_lock_free (C++11)

Functions

atomic_storeatomic_store_explicit (C++11)(C++11)

atomic_loadatomic_load_explicit (C++11)(C++11)

atomic_exchangeatomic_exchange_explicit (C++11)(C++11)

atomic_compare_exchange_weakatomic_compare_exchange_weak_explicitatomic_compare_exchange_strongatomic_compare_exchange_strong_explicit (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)(C++11)

atomic_fetch_addatomic_fetch_add_explicit (C++11)(C++11)

atomic_fetch_subatomic_fetch_sub_explicit (C++11)(C++11)

atomic_fetch_andatomic_fetch_and_explicit (C++11)(C++11)

atomic_fetch_oratomic_fetch_or_explicit (C++11)(C++11)

atomic_fetch_xoratomic_fetch_xor_explicit (C++11)(C++11)

Atomic flags

atomic_flag (C++11)

atomic_flag_test_and_setatomic_flag_test_and_set_explicit (C++11)(C++11)

atomic_flag_clearatomic_flag_clear_explicit (C++11)(C++11)

Initialization

atomic_init (C++11)

ATOMIC_VAR_INIT (C++11)

ATOMIC_FLAG_INIT (C++11)

Memory ordering

memory_order (C++11)

kill_dependency (C++11)

atomic_thread_fence (C++11)

atomic_signal_fence (C++11)

 

std::atomic

Member functions

atomic::atomic

atomic::operator=

atomic::is_lock_free

atomic::store

atomic::load

atomic::operator T

atomic::exchange

atomic::compare_exchange

Specialized member functions

atomic::fetch_add

atomic::fetch_sub

atomic::fetch_and

atomic::fetch_or

atomic::fetch_xor

atomic::operator++atomic::operator++(int)atomic::operator--atomic::operator--(int)

atomic::operator+=atomic::operator-=atomic::operator&=atomic::operator|=atomic::operator^=

 

Defined in header <atomic>
	(1)	(since C++11)
bool compare_exchange_weak( T& expected, T desired,                             std::memory_order success,                             std::memory_order failure );
bool compare_exchange_weak( T& expected, T desired,                             std::memory_order success,                             std::memory_order failure ) volatile;
			(2)	(since C++11)
bool compare_exchange_weak( T& expected, T desired,                             std::memory_order order =                                 std::memory_order_seq_cst );
bool compare_exchange_weak( T& expected, T desired,                             std::memory_order order =                                 std::memory_order_seq_cst ) volatile;
					(3)	(since C++11)
bool compare_exchange_strong( T& expected, T desired,                               std::memory_order success,                               std::memory_order failure );
bool compare_exchange_strong( T& expected, T desired,                               std::memory_order success,                               std::memory_order failure ) volatile;
							(4)	(since C++11)
bool compare_exchange_strong( T& expected, T desired,                               std::memory_order order =                                   std::memory_order_seq_cst );
bool compare_exchange_strong( T& expected, T desired,                               std::memory_order order =                                   std::memory_order_seq_cst ) volatile;

Atomically compares the object representation of *this with the object representation of expected, as if by std::memcmp, and if those are bitwise-equal, replaces the former with desired (performs read-modify-write operation). Otherwise, loads the actual value stored in *this into expected (performs load operation). Copying is performed as if by std::memcpy.

The memory models for the read-modify-write and load operations are success and failure respectively. In the (2) and (4) versions order is used for both read-modify-write and load operations, except that std::memory_order_acquire and std::memory_order_relaxed are used for the load operation if order == std::memory_order_acq_rel, or order == std::memory_order_release respectively.

Parameters

expected	-	reference to the value expected to be found in the atomic object
desired	-	the value to store in the atomic object if it is as expected
success	-	the memory synchronization ordering for the read-modify-write operation if the comparison succeeds. All values are permitted.
failure	-	the memory synchronization ordering for the load operation if the comparison fails. Cannot be std::memory_order_release or std::memory_order_acq_rel and cannot specify stronger ordering than success
order	-	the memory synchronization ordering for both operations

Return value

true if the underlying atomic value was changed, false otherwise.

Exceptions

noexcept specification:  

noexcept

  

Notes

The weak forms (1-2) of the functions are allowed to fail spuriously, that is, act as if *this != expected even if they are equal. When a compare-and-exchange is in a loop, the weak version will yield better performance on some platforms.

When a weak compare-and-exchange would require a loop and a strong one would not, the strong one is preferable unless the object representation of T may include padding bits, trap bits, or offers multiple object representations for the same value (e.g. floating-point NaN). In those cases, weak compare-and-exchange typically works because it quickly converges on some stable object representation.

Example

compare and exchange operations are often used as basic building blocks of lockfree data structures

Run this code

#include <atomic>
template<typename T>
struct node
{
    T data;
    node* next;
    node(const T& data) : data(data), next(nullptr) {}
};
 
template<typename T>
class stack
{
    std::atomic<node<T>*> head;
 public:
    void push(const T& data)
    {
        node<T>* new_node = new node<T>(data);
 
      // put the current value of head into new_node->next
      new_node->next = head.load(std::memory_order_relaxed);
 
      // now make new_node the new head, but if the head
      // is no longer what's stored in new_node->next
      // (some other thread must have inserted a node just now)
      // then put that new head into new_node->next and try again
      while(!head.compare_exchange_weak(new_node->next, new_node,
                                        std::memory_order_release,
                                        std::memory_order_relaxed))
          ; // the body of the loop is empty
 
// Note: the above use is not thread-safe in at least 
// GCC prior to 4.8.3 (bug 60272), clang prior to 2014-05-05 (bug 18899)
// MSVC prior to 2014-03-17 (bug 819819). The following is a workaround:
//      node<T>* old_head = head.load(std::memory_order_relaxed);
//      do {
//          new_node->next = old_head;
//       } while(!head.compare_exchange_weak(old_head, new_node,
//                                           std::memory_order_release,
//                                           std::memory_order_relaxed));
    }
};
int main()
{
    stack<int> s;
    s.push(1);
    s.push(2);
    s.push(3);
}

Demonstrates how compare_exchange_strong either changes the value of the atomic variable or the variable used for comparison.

Run this code

#include <atomic>
#include <iostream>
 
std::atomic<int>  ai;
 
int  tst_val= 4;
int  new_val= 5;
bool exchanged= false;
 
void valsout()
{
    std::cout << "ai= " << ai
	      << "  tst_val= " << tst_val
	      << "  new_val= " << new_val
	      << "  exchanged= " << std::boolalpha << exchanged
	      << "\n";
}
 
int main()
{
    ai= 3;
    valsout();
 
    // tst_val != ai   ==>  tst_val is modified
    exchanged= ai.compare_exchange_strong( tst_val, new_val );
    valsout();
 
    // tst_val == ai   ==>  ai is modified
    exchanged= ai.compare_exchange_strong( tst_val, new_val );
    valsout();
 
    return 0;
}

Output:

ai= 3  tst_val= 4  new_val= 5  exchanged= false
ai= 3  tst_val= 3  new_val= 5  exchanged= false
ai= 5  tst_val= 3  new_val= 5  exchanged= true

See also

atomic_compare_exchange_weakatomic_compare_exchange_weak_explicitatomic_compare_exchange_strongatomic_compare_exchange_strong_explicit (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)(C++11)	atomically compares the value of the atomic object with non-atomic argument and performs atomic exchange if equal or atomic load if not (function template)