This routine changes the detachstate attribute in the thread attributes object specified by the attr argument. The detachstate attribute specifies whether the thread created using the specified thread attributes object is created in a detached state or not. A value of PTHREAD_CREATE_JOINABLE indicates the thread is not detached, and a value of PTHREAD_CREATE_DETACHED indicates the thread is detached. PTHREAD_CREATE_JOINABLE is the default value. Your program cannot use the thread handle (the value of type pthread_t returned by the pthread_create() routine) of a detached thread because the thread might terminate asynchronously, and a detached thread ID is not valid after termination. In particular, it is an error to attempt to detach or join with a detached thread. When a thread that has not been detached completes execution, the Threads Library retains the state of that thread to allow another thread to join with it. If the thread is detached before it completes execution, the Threads Library is free to immediately reclaim the thread's storage and resources. Failing to detach threads that have completed execution can result in wasting resources, so threads should be detached as soon as the program is done with them. If there is no need to use the thread's handle after creation, such as to join with it, create the thread initially detached.