Thread.Sleep Method (TimeSpan) (System.Threading)

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.NET Framework Class Library

Thread.Sleep Method (TimeSpan)

Blocks the current thread for a specified time.

Namespace: System.Threading
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

Visual Basic

Public Shared Sub Sleep ( _
	timeout As TimeSpan _
)

public static void Sleep(
	TimeSpan timeout
)

Visual C++

public:
static void Sleep(
	TimeSpan timeout
)

static member Sleep : 
        timeout:TimeSpan -> unit

Parameters

timeout: Type: System.TimeSpan
A TimeSpan set to the amount of time for which the thread is blocked. Specify zero to indicate that this thread should be suspended to allow other waiting threads to execute. Specify Timeout.Infinite to block the thread indefinitely.

Exceptions

Exception	Condition
ArgumentOutOfRangeException	The value of timeout is negative and is not equal to Timeout.Infinite in milliseconds, or is greater than Int32.MaxValue milliseconds.

Remarks

The thread will not be scheduled for execution by the operating system for the amount of time specified. This method changes the state of the thread to include WaitSleepJoin.

This overload of Sleep uses the total number of whole milliseconds in timeout. Fractional milliseconds are discarded.

This method does not perform standard COM and SendMessage pumping.

Note
If you need to sleep on a thread that has STAThreadAttribute, but you want to perform standard COM and SendMessage pumping, consider using one of the overloads of the Join method that specifies a timeout interval.

Examples

The following example uses the Sleep(TimeSpan) method overload to block the application's main thread five times, for two seconds each time.

Visual Basic


Imports System.Threading

Class Example

    Shared Sub Main()

        Dim interval As New TimeSpan(0, 0, 2)

        For i As Integer = 0 To 4
            Console.WriteLine("Sleep for 2 seconds.")
            Thread.Sleep(interval)
        Next

        Console.WriteLine("Main thread exits.")
    End Sub
End Class

' This example produces the following output:
'
'Sleep for 2 seconds.
'Sleep for 2 seconds.
'Sleep for 2 seconds.
'Sleep for 2 seconds.
'Sleep for 2 seconds.
'Main thread exits.


using System;
using System.Threading;

class Example
{
    static void Main()
    {
        TimeSpan interval = new TimeSpan(0, 0, 2);

        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Sleep for 2 seconds.");
            Thread.Sleep(interval);
        }

        Console.WriteLine("Main thread exits.");
    }
}

/* This example produces the following output:

Sleep for 2 seconds.
Sleep for 2 seconds.
Sleep for 2 seconds.
Sleep for 2 seconds.
Sleep for 2 seconds.
Main thread exits.
 */

Visual C++


using namespace System;
using namespace System::Threading;

int main()
{
    TimeSpan interval = TimeSpan(0, 0, 2);

    for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
    {
        Console::WriteLine("Sleep for 2 seconds.");
        Thread::Sleep(interval);
    }

    Console::WriteLine("Main thread exits.");
}

/* This example produces the following output:

Sleep for 2 seconds.
Sleep for 2 seconds.
Sleep for 2 seconds.
Sleep for 2 seconds.
Sleep for 2 seconds.
Main thread exits.
 */

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 4, 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

.NET Framework Client Profile

Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1

Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Reference

Thread Class

Sleep Overload

System.Threading Namespace