Fiber

Returns the value of the fiber storage variable identified by key.

The key must be a symbol, and the value is set by Fiber#[]= or Fiber#store.

See also Fiber::[]=.

Assign value to the fiber storage variable identified by key. The variable is created if it doesn’t exist.

key must be a Symbol, otherwise a TypeError is raised.

See also Fiber::[].

Forces the fiber to be blocking for the duration of the block. Returns the result of the block.

See the “Non-blocking fibers” section in class docs for details.

Returns false if the current fiber is non-blocking. Fiber is non-blocking if it was created via passing blocking: false to Fiber.new, or via Fiber.schedule.

If the current Fiber is blocking, the method returns 1. Future developments may allow for situations where larger integers could be returned.

Note that, even if the method returns false, Fiber behaves differently only if Fiber.scheduler is set in the current thread.

See the “Non-blocking fibers” section in class docs for details.

Returns the current fiber. If you are not running in the context of a fiber this method will return the root fiber.

Returns the Fiber scheduler, that was last set for the current thread with Fiber.set_scheduler if and only if the current fiber is non-blocking.

Creates new Fiber. Initially, the fiber is not running and can be resumed with resume. Arguments to the first resume call will be passed to the block:

f = Fiber.new do |initial|
   current = initial
   loop do
     puts "current: #{current.inspect}"
     current = Fiber.yield
   end
end
f.resume(100)     # prints: current: 100
f.resume(1, 2, 3) # prints: current: [1, 2, 3]
f.resume          # prints: current: nil
# ... and so on ...

If blocking: false is passed to Fiber.new, and current thread has a Fiber.scheduler defined, the Fiber becomes non-blocking (see “Non-blocking Fibers” section in class docs).

If the storage is unspecified, the default is to inherit a copy of the storage from the current fiber. This is the same as specifying storage: true.

Fiber[:x] = 1
Fiber.new do
  Fiber[:x] # => 1
  Fiber[:x] = 2
end.resume
Fiber[:x] # => 1

If the given storage is nil, this function will lazy initialize the internal storage, which starts as an empty hash.

Fiber[:x] = "Hello World"
Fiber.new(storage: nil) do
  Fiber[:x] # nil
end

Otherwise, the given storage is used as the new fiber’s storage, and it must be an instance of Hash.

Explicitly using storage: true is currently experimental and may change in the future.

The method is expected to immediately run the provided block of code in a separate non-blocking fiber.

puts "Go to sleep!"

Fiber.set_scheduler(MyScheduler.new)

Fiber.schedule do
  puts "Going to sleep"
  sleep(1)
  puts "I slept well"
end

puts "Wakey-wakey, sleepyhead"

Assuming MyScheduler is properly implemented, this program will produce:

Go to sleep!
Going to sleep
Wakey-wakey, sleepyhead
...1 sec pause here...
I slept well

…e.g. on the first blocking operation inside the Fiber (sleep(1)), the control is yielded to the outside code (main fiber), and at the end of that execution, the scheduler takes care of properly resuming all the blocked fibers.

Note that the behavior described above is how the method is expected to behave, actual behavior is up to the current scheduler’s implementation of Fiber::Scheduler#fiber method. Ruby doesn’t enforce this method to behave in any particular way.

If the scheduler is not set, the method raises RuntimeError (No scheduler is available!).

Returns the Fiber scheduler, that was last set for the current thread with Fiber.set_scheduler. Returns nil if no scheduler is set (which is the default), and non-blocking fibers’ behavior is the same as blocking. (see “Non-blocking fibers” section in class docs for details about the scheduler concept).

Sets the Fiber scheduler for the current thread. If the scheduler is set, non-blocking fibers (created by Fiber.new with blocking: false, or by Fiber.schedule) call that scheduler’s hook methods on potentially blocking operations, and the current thread will call scheduler’s close method on finalization (allowing the scheduler to properly manage all non-finished fibers).

scheduler can be an object of any class corresponding to Fiber::Scheduler. Its implementation is up to the user.

See also the “Non-blocking fibers” section in class docs.

Yields control back to the context that resumed the fiber, passing along any arguments that were passed to it. The fiber will resume processing at this point when resume is called next. Any arguments passed to the next resume will be the value that this Fiber.yield expression evaluates to.

Returns true if the fiber can still be resumed (or transferred to). After finishing execution of the fiber block this method will always return false.

Returns the current execution stack of the fiber. start, count and end allow to select only parts of the backtrace.

def level3
  Fiber.yield
end

def level2
  level3
end

def level1
  level2
end

f = Fiber.new { level1 }

# It is empty before the fiber started
f.backtrace
#=> []

f.resume

f.backtrace
#=> ["test.rb:2:in `yield'", "test.rb:2:in `level3'", "test.rb:6:in `level2'", "test.rb:10:in `level1'", "test.rb:13:in `block in <main>'"]
p f.backtrace(1) # start from the item 1
#=> ["test.rb:2:in `level3'", "test.rb:6:in `level2'", "test.rb:10:in `level1'", "test.rb:13:in `block in <main>'"]
p f.backtrace(2, 2) # start from item 2, take 2
#=> ["test.rb:6:in `level2'", "test.rb:10:in `level1'"]
p f.backtrace(1..3) # take items from 1 to 3
#=> ["test.rb:2:in `level3'", "test.rb:6:in `level2'", "test.rb:10:in `level1'"]

f.resume

# It is nil after the fiber is finished
f.backtrace
#=> nil

Like backtrace, but returns each line of the execution stack as a Thread::Backtrace::Location. Accepts the same arguments as backtrace.

f = Fiber.new { Fiber.yield }
f.resume
loc = f.backtrace_locations.first
loc.label  #=> "yield"
loc.path   #=> "test.rb"
loc.lineno #=> 1

Returns true if fiber is blocking and false otherwise. Fiber is non-blocking if it was created via passing blocking: false to Fiber.new, or via Fiber.schedule.

Note that, even if the method returns false, the fiber behaves differently only if Fiber.scheduler is set in the current thread.

See the “Non-blocking fibers” section in class docs for details.

Raises an exception in the fiber at the point at which the last Fiber.yield was called. If the fiber has not been started or has already run to completion, raises FiberError. If the fiber is yielding, it is resumed. If it is transferring, it is transferred into. But if it is resuming, raises FiberError.

With no arguments, raises a RuntimeError. With a single String argument, raises a RuntimeError with the string as a message. Otherwise, the first parameter should be the name of an Exception class (or an object that returns an Exception object when sent an exception message). The optional second parameter sets the message associated with the exception, and the third parameter is an array of callback information. Exceptions are caught by the rescue clause of begin...end blocks.

Resumes the fiber from the point at which the last Fiber.yield was called, or starts running it if it is the first call to resume. Arguments passed to resume will be the value of the Fiber.yield expression or will be passed as block parameters to the fiber’s block if this is the first resume.

Alternatively, when resume is called it evaluates to the arguments passed to the next Fiber.yield statement inside the fiber’s block or to the block value if it runs to completion without any Fiber.yield

Returns a copy of the storage hash for the fiber. The method can only be called on the Fiber.current.

Sets the storage hash for the fiber. This feature is experimental and may change in the future. The method can only be called on the Fiber.current.

You should be careful about using this method as you may inadvertently clear important fiber-storage state. You should mostly prefer to assign specific keys in the storage using Fiber::[]=.

You can also use Fiber.new(storage: nil) to create a fiber with an empty storage.

Example:

while request = request_queue.pop
  # Reset the per-request state:
  Fiber.current.storage = nil
  handle_request(request)
end

Transfer control to another fiber, resuming it from where it last stopped or starting it if it was not resumed before. The calling fiber will be suspended much like in a call to Fiber.yield.

The fiber which receives the transfer call treats it much like a resume call. Arguments passed to transfer are treated like those passed to resume.

The two style of control passing to and from fiber (one is resume and Fiber::yield, another is transfer to and from fiber) can’t be freely mixed.

• If the Fiber’s lifecycle had started with transfer, it will never be able to yield or be resumed control passing, only finish or transfer back. (It still can resume other fibers that are allowed to be resumed.)

• If the Fiber’s lifecycle had started with resume, it can yield or transfer to another Fiber, but can receive control back only the way compatible with the way it was given away: if it had transferred, it only can be transferred back, and if it had yielded, it only can be resumed back. After that, it again can transfer or yield.

If those rules are broken FiberError is raised.

For an individual Fiber design, yield/resume is easier to use (the Fiber just gives away control, it doesn’t need to think about who the control is given to), while transfer is more flexible for complex cases, allowing to build arbitrary graphs of Fibers dependent on each other.

Example:

manager = nil # For local var to be visible inside worker block

# This fiber would be started with transfer
# It can't yield, and can't be resumed
worker = Fiber.new { |work|
  puts "Worker: starts"
  puts "Worker: Performed #{work.inspect}, transferring back"
  # Fiber.yield     # this would raise FiberError: attempt to yield on a not resumed fiber
  # manager.resume  # this would raise FiberError: attempt to resume a resumed fiber (double resume)
  manager.transfer(work.capitalize)
}

# This fiber would be started with resume
# It can yield or transfer, and can be transferred
# back or resumed
manager = Fiber.new {
  puts "Manager: starts"
  puts "Manager: transferring 'something' to worker"
  result = worker.transfer('something')
  puts "Manager: worker returned #{result.inspect}"
  # worker.resume    # this would raise FiberError: attempt to resume a transferring fiber
  Fiber.yield        # this is OK, the fiber transferred from and to, now it can yield
  puts "Manager: finished"
}

puts "Starting the manager"
manager.resume
puts "Resuming the manager"
# manager.transfer  # this would raise FiberError: attempt to transfer to a yielding fiber
manager.resume

produces

Starting the manager
Manager: starts
Manager: transferring 'something' to worker
Worker: starts
Worker: Performed "something", transferring back
Manager: worker returned "Something"
Resuming the manager
Manager: finished