public member function
<mutex>

std::unique_lock::lock

void lock();
Lock mutex
Calls member lock of the managed mutex object.

Calling lock on a mutex object that has already been locked by other threads causes the current thread to block (wait) until it can own a lock to it.

When the function returns, the object owns a lock on the mutex.

If the call to lock fails, a system_error exception is thrown.

Parameters

none

Return value

none

Example

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// unique_lock::lock/unlock
#include <iostream>       // std::cout
#include <thread>         // std::thread
#include <mutex>          // std::mutex, std::unique_lock, std::defer_lock

std::mutex mtx;           // mutex for critical section

void print_thread_id (int id) {
  std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lck (mtx,std::defer_lock);
  // critical section (exclusive access to std::cout signaled by locking lck):
  lck.lock();
  std::cout << "thread #" << id << '\n';
  lck.unlock();
}

int main ()
{
  std::thread threads[10];
  // spawn 10 threads:
  for (int i=0; i<10; ++i)
    threads[i] = std::thread(print_thread_id,i+1);

  for (auto& th : threads) th.join();

  return 0;
}

Possible output (order of lines may vary, but they are never intermingled):
thread #1
thread #2
thread #3
thread #4
thread #5
thread #6
thread #7
thread #8
thread #9
thread #10


Data races

The unique_lock object is modified.
The managed mutex object is accessed and modified (as an atomic operation, causing no data races).

Exception safety

Basic guarantee: if an exception is thrown by this member function, the unique_lock object is left in a valid state.

If the call fails, a system_error exception is thrown:
exception typeerror conditiondescription
system_errorerrc::resource_deadlock_would_occurThe unique_lock object already owns a lock
system_errorerrc::operation_not_permittedThe unique_lock object currently manages no mutex object (because it was default-constructed, moved, or released)
An exception is also thrown if the call to lock on the managed mutex object fails, and on any other condition reported with such mechanism by the library implementation.

See also