How to: Stop or Break from a Parallel.For Loop
The following example shows how to break (or Exit in Visual Basic) out of a For loop, and also how to stop a loop. In this context, "break" means complete all iterations on all threads that are prior to the current iteration on the current thread, and then exit the loop. "Stop" means to stop all iterations as soon as convenient.
Example
This example demonstrates a For loop; however, you can stop or break from a ForEach loop in the same way. In a ForEach loop, an iteration index is generated internally for each element in each partition.
' How to: Stop or Break from a Parallel.For Loop
Imports System.Collections.Concurrent
Imports System.Threading
Imports System.Threading.Tasks
Module ParallelForStop
Sub Main()
StopLoop()
BreakAtThreshold()
Console.WriteLine("Press any key to exit.")
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
Sub StopLoop()
Console.WriteLine("Stop loop...")
Dim source As Double() = MakeDemoSource(1000, 1)
Dim results As New ConcurrentStack(Of Double)()
' i is the iteration variable. loopState is a
' compiler-generated ParallelLoopState
Parallel.For(0, source.Length, Sub(i, loopState)
' Take the first 100 values that are retrieved
' from anywhere in the source.
If i < 100 Then
' Accessing shared object on each iteration
' is not efficient. See remarks.
Dim d As Double = Compute(source(i))
results.Push(d)
Else
loopState.[Stop]()
Exit Sub
End If
' Close lambda expression.
End Sub)
' Close Parallel.For
Console.WriteLine("Results contains {0} elements", results.Count())
End Sub
Sub BreakAtThreshold()
Dim source As Double() = MakeDemoSource(10000, 1.0002)
Dim results As New ConcurrentStack(Of Double)()
' Store all values below a specified threshold.
Parallel.For(0, source.Length, Function(i, loopState)
Dim d As Double = Compute(source(i))
results.Push(d)
If d > 0.2 Then
' Might be called more than once!
loopState.Break()
Console.WriteLine("Break called at iteration {0}. d = {1} ", i, d)
Thread.Sleep(1000)
End If
Return d
End Function)
Console.WriteLine("results contains {0} elements", results.Count())
End Sub
Function Compute(ByVal d As Double) As Double
'Make the processor work just a little bit.
Return Math.Sqrt(d)
End Function
' Create a contrived array of monotonically increasing
' values for demonstration purposes.
Function MakeDemoSource(ByVal size As Integer, ByVal valToFind As Double) As Double()
Dim result As Double() = New Double(size - 1) {}
Dim initialval As Double = 0.01
For i As Integer = 0 To size - 1
initialval *= valToFind
result(i) = initialval
Next
Return result
End Function
End Module
namespace StopOrBreak
{
using System;
using System.Collections.Concurrent;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
class Test
{
static void Main()
{
StopLoop();
BreakAtThreshold();
Console.WriteLine("Press any key to exit.");
Console.ReadKey();
}
private static void StopLoop()
{
Console.WriteLine("Stop loop...");
double[] source = MakeDemoSource(1000, 1);
ConcurrentStack<double> results = new ConcurrentStack<double>();
// i is the iteration variable. loopState is a
// compiler-generated ParallelLoopState
Parallel.For(0, source.Length, (i, loopState) =>
{
// Take the first 100 values that are retrieved
// from anywhere in the source.
if (i < 100)
{
// Accessing shared object on each iteration
// is not efficient. See remarks.
double d = Compute(source[i]);
results.Push(d);
}
else
{
loopState.Stop();
return;
}
} // Close lambda expression.
); // Close Parallel.For
Console.WriteLine("Results contains {0} elements", results.Count());
}
static void BreakAtThreshold()
{
double[] source = MakeDemoSource(10000, 1.0002);
ConcurrentStack<double> results = new ConcurrentStack<double>();
// Store all values below a specified threshold.
Parallel.For(0, source.Length, (i, loopState) =>
{
double d = Compute(source[i]);
results.Push(d);
if (d > .2)
{
// Might be called more than once!
loopState.Break();
Console.WriteLine("Break called at iteration {0}. d = {1} ", i, d);
Thread.Sleep(1000);
}
});
Console.WriteLine("results contains {0} elements", results.Count());
}
static double Compute(double d)
{
//Make the processor work just a little bit.
return Math.Sqrt(d);
}
// Create a contrived array of monotonically increasing
// values for demonstration purposes.
static double[] MakeDemoSource(int size, double valToFind)
{
double[] result = new double[size];
double initialval = .01;
for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)
{
initialval *= valToFind;
result[i] = initialval;
}
return result;
}
}
}
In a Parallel.For or Parallel.ForEach loop, you cannot use the same break or Exit statement that is used in a sequential loop because those language constructs are valid for loops, and a parallel "loop" is actually a method, not a loop. Instead, you use either the Stop or Break methods. Some of the overloads of Parallel.For accept an Action<int, ParallelLoopState> (Action(Of Integer, ParallelLoopState) in Visual Basic) as an input parameter. The ParallelLoopState object is created behind the scenes by the runtime, and you can give it any name you like in the lambda expression.
In the example, the StopLoop() method requires only 100 values from the source sequence and it does not matter which elements were retrieved. In this case the Stop method is used, because it tells all iterations of the loop, including those begun prior to the current iteration on other threads, to stop as soon as is convenient.
In the BreakAtThreshold(), we are retrieving all the elements up to a specified index in the source sequence. In this case, Break is called, because when we reach the index on one thread, it is possible that prior elements in the source have not yet been processed. Break will cause other threads to abandon work on later seqments (if they are engaged in any) and complete the processing all prior elements before exiting the loop.
It is important to understand that after either Stop or Break is called, other threads on a loop may continue to run for some period of time, which is not in the control of the application developer. You can use the ParallelLoopState.IsStopped property to check whether the loop has been stopped on another thread. In the following example, if IsStopped is true, then no further data is written to the collection.
Compiling the Code
- Copy and paste the code example into a Visual Studio 2010 project.
See Also
Reference
Concepts
Lambda Expressions in PLINQ and TPL