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POSkip function if it takes too long
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copied!<p>In Java I have a function that processes a text file in a certain way. However, if it takes too much time the process will most likely be useless (whatever the reason is) for that text file and I would like to skip it. Furthermore, if the process takes too long, it also uses too much memory. I've tried to solve it this way, but it doesn't work:</p> <pre><code>for (int i = 0; i<docs.size(); i++){ try{ docs.get(i).getAnaphora(); } catch (Exception e){ System.err.println(e); } } </code></pre> <p>where <code>docs</code> is just a <code>List</code> of files in a directory. Usually I have to manually stop the code because it is 'stuck' at a particular file (depending on the contents of that file). </p> <p>Is there a way of measuring time for that function call and tell Java to skip the file the function takes more than, let's say, 10 seconds?</p> <p><em>EDIT</em><br /> After scraping a few different answers together I came up with this solution which works fine. Perhaps someone else can use the idea as well.</p> <p>First create a class that implements Runable (this way you can pass in arguments to the Thread if needed):</p> <pre><code>public class CustomRunnable implements Runnable { Object argument; public CustomRunnable (Object argument){ this.argument = argument; } @Override public void run() { argument.doFunction(); } } </code></pre> <p>Then use this code in the <code>main</code> class to monitor the time of a function (<code>argument.doFunction()</code>) and exit if it takes to long:</p> <pre><code>Thread thread; for (int i = 0; i<someObjectList.size(); i++){ thread = new Thread(new CustomRunnable(someObjectList.get(i))); thread.start(); long endTimeMillis = System.currentTimeMillis() + 20000; while (thread.isAlive()) { if (System.currentTimeMillis() > endTimeMillis) { thread.stop(); break; } try { System.out.println("\ttimer:"+(int)(endTimeMillis - System.currentTimeMillis())/1000+"s"); thread.sleep(2000); } catch (InterruptedException t) {} } } </code></pre> <p>I realise <code>stop()</code> is depcecated, but I haven't found any other way to stop and exit the thread when I want it to stop.</p>

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