Java Thread Set Name Example

In this article, we will learn how to name a thread in a Java application

getName() and setName(String name) Method Overview

The java.lang.Thread class provides methods to change and get the name of a thread. By default, each thread has a name i.e. thread-0, thread-1 and so on. By we can change the name of the thread by using setName() method. The syntax of setName() and getName() methods are given below:

• public String getName(): is used to return the name of a thread.
• public void setName(String name): is used to change the name of a thread.

Thread class provides a static currentThread() - Returns a reference to the currently executing thread object.

Naming a Thread Example

In this example, we have used setName() and currentThread() methods. Let's create 4 threads and name these threads as:

		final Thread thread1 = new WorkerThread();
		thread1.setName("WorkerThread1");
		
		final Thread thread2 = new WorkerThread();
		thread2.setName("WorkerThread2");
		
		final Thread thread3 = new WorkerThread();
		thread3.setName("WorkerThread3");
		
		final Thread thread4 = new WorkerThread();
		thread4.setName("WorkerThread4");

Let's see complete program to demonstrates how to name a thread.

/**
 *  Thread naming example using Thread class.
 *  @author Ramesh fadatare
 **/

public class ThreadExample {
	
	public static void main(final String[] args) {
		
		System.out.println("Thread main started");

		final Thread thread1 = new WorkerThread();
		thread1.setName("WorkerThread1");
		
		final Thread thread2 = new WorkerThread();
		thread2.setName("WorkerThread2");
		
		final Thread thread3 = new WorkerThread();
		thread3.setName("WorkerThread3");
		
		final Thread thread4 = new WorkerThread();
		thread4.setName("WorkerThread4");
		
		thread1.start();
		thread2.start();
		thread3.start();
		thread4.start();
		
		System.out.println("Thread main finished");
	}
}

class WorkerThread extends Thread {
	
	@Override
	public void run() {
		System.out.println("Thread Name :: " + Thread.currentThread().getName());
	}
}

Output:

Thread main started
Thread Name :: WorkerThread1
Thread Name :: WorkerThread2
Thread Name :: WorkerThread3
Thread main finished
Thread Name :: WorkerThread4