###### (This is the legacy documentation for stable SDL2, the current stable version; [SDL3](https://wiki.libsdl.org/SDL3/) is the current development version.) # SDL_DetachThread Let a thread clean up on exit without intervention. ## Syntax ```c void SDL_DetachThread(SDL_Thread * thread); ``` ## Function Parameters | | | | -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **thread** | the [SDL_Thread](SDL_Thread) pointer that was returned from the [SDL_CreateThread](SDL_CreateThread)() call that started this thread | ## Remarks A thread may be "detached" to signify that it should not remain until another thread has called [SDL_WaitThread](SDL_WaitThread)() on it. Detaching a thread is useful for long-running threads that nothing needs to synchronize with or further manage. When a detached thread is done, it simply goes away. There is no way to recover the return code of a detached thread. If you need this, don't detach the thread and instead use [SDL_WaitThread](SDL_WaitThread)(). Once a thread is detached, you should usually assume the [SDL_Thread](SDL_Thread) isn't safe to reference again, as it will become invalid immediately upon the detached thread's exit, instead of remaining until someone has called [SDL_WaitThread](SDL_WaitThread)() to finally clean it up. As such, don't detach the same thread more than once. If a thread has already exited when passed to [SDL_DetachThread](SDL_DetachThread)(), it will stop waiting for a call to [SDL_WaitThread](SDL_WaitThread)() and clean up immediately. It is not safe to detach a thread that might be used with [SDL_WaitThread](SDL_WaitThread)(). You may not call [SDL_WaitThread](SDL_WaitThread)() on a thread that has been detached. Use either that function or this one, but not both, or behavior is undefined. It is safe to pass NULL to this function; it is a no-op. ## Version This function is available since SDL 2.0.2. ## Related Functions * [SDL_CreateThread](SDL_CreateThread) * [SDL_WaitThread](SDL_WaitThread) ---- [CategoryAPI](CategoryAPI)