This routine returns the address of the calling thread's own thread identifier. For example, you can use this thread object to obtain the calling thread's own sequence number. To do so, pass the return value from this routine in a call to the pthread_ getsequence_np() routine, as follows: . . . unsigned long this_thread_nbr; . . . this_thread_nbr = pthread_getsequence_np( pthread_self( ) ); . . . The return value from the pthread_self() routine becomes meaningless after the calling thread is destroyed.