守护线程是在后台执行一些任务的线程，比如处理请求或应用程序中可能存在的各种chronjob。

当你的程序只剩下守护线程时，它将退出。这是因为这些线程通常与普通线程一起工作，并提供事件的后台处理。

你可以使用setDaemon方法指定一个线程是守护线程，它们通常不会退出，也不会被中断。当应用程序停止时，它们就会停止。

守护线程就像一个服务提供者，为运行在与守护线程相同进程中的其他线程或对象提供服务。守护线程用于后台支持任务，只有在正常线程执行时才需要守护线程。如果正常线程不运行，其余线程是守护线程，则解释器退出。

例如，HotJava浏览器使用最多4个名为“Image Fetcher”的守护线程从文件系统或网络中为任何需要的线程获取图像。

守护线程通常用于为应用程序/applet执行服务(例如加载“fiddley bits”)。用户线程和守护线程之间的核心区别在于，JVM只会在所有用户线程都终止时关闭程序。当不再有任何用户线程在运行(包括执行主线程)时，守护线程将由JVM终止。

setDaemon(真/假)?此方法用于指定一个线程是守护线程。

公共boolean isDaemon() ?此方法用于确定线程是否是守护线程。

Eg:

public class DaemonThread extends Thread {
    public void run() {
        System.out.println("Entering run method");

        try {
            System.out.println("In run Method: currentThread() is" + Thread.currentThread());

            while (true) {
                try {
                    Thread.sleep(500);
                } catch (InterruptedException x) {}

                System.out.println("In run method: woke up again");
            }
        } finally {
            System.out.println("Leaving run Method");
        }
    }
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Entering main Method");

        DaemonThread t = new DaemonThread();
        t.setDaemon(true);
        t.start();

        try {
            Thread.sleep(3000);
        } catch (InterruptedException x) {}

        System.out.println("Leaving main method");
    }

}

输出:

C:\java\thread>javac DaemonThread.java

C:\java\thread>java DaemonThread
Entering main Method
Entering run method
In run Method: currentThread() isThread[Thread-0,5,main]
In run method: woke up again
In run method: woke up again
In run method: woke up again
In run method: woke up again
In run method: woke up again
In run method: woke up again
Leaving main method

C:\j2se6\thread>

Daemon thread is like daemon process which is responsible for managing resources,a daemon thread is created by the Java VM to serve the user threads. example updating system for unix,unix is daemon process. child of daemon thread is always daemon thread,so by default daemon is false.you can check thread as daemon or user by using "isDaemon()" method. so daemon thread or daemon process are basically responsible for managing resources. for example when you starting jvm there is garbage collector running that is daemon thread whose priority is 1 that is lowest,which is managing memory. jvm is alive as long as user thread is alive,u can not kill daemon thread.jvm is responsible to kill daemon threads.

守护线程是在程序完成但线程仍在运行时不阻止JVM退出的线程。守护进程线程的一个例子是垃圾收集。

您可以使用setDaemon(boolean)方法在线程启动之前更改线程守护进程属性。

让我们只讨论工作示例中的代码。我喜欢russ上面的回答，但为了消除我的疑虑，我稍微加强了一下。我运行了两次，一次工作线程设置为deamon true (deamon线程)，另一次设置为false(用户线程)。它确认守护线程在主线程结束时结束。

public class DeamonThreadTest {

public static void main(String[] args) {

    new WorkerThread(false).start();    //set it to true and false and run twice.

    try {
        Thread.sleep(7500);
    } catch (InterruptedException e) {
        // handle here exception
    }

    System.out.println("Main Thread ending");
    }
   }

   class WorkerThread extends Thread {

    boolean isDeamon;

    public WorkerThread(boolean isDeamon) {
        // When false, (i.e. when it's a user thread),
        // the Worker thread continues to run.
        // When true, (i.e. when it's a daemon thread),
        // the Worker thread terminates when the main
        // thread terminates.
        this.isDeamon = isDeamon;
        setDaemon(isDeamon);
    }

    public void run() {
        System.out.println("I am a " + (isDeamon ? "Deamon Thread" : "User Thread (none-deamon)"));

        int counter = 0;

        while (counter < 10) {
            counter++;
            System.out.println("\tworking from Worker thread " + counter++);

            try {
                sleep(5000);
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                // handle exception here
            }
        }
        System.out.println("\tWorker thread ends. ");
    }
}



result when setDeamon(true)
=====================================
I am a Deamon Thread
    working from Worker thread 0
    working from Worker thread 1
Main Thread ending

Process finished with exit code 0


result when setDeamon(false)
=====================================
I am a User Thread (none-deamon)
    working from Worker thread 0
    working from Worker thread 1
Main Thread ending
    working from Worker thread 2
    working from Worker thread 3
    working from Worker thread 4
    working from Worker thread 5
    working from Worker thread 6
    working from Worker thread 7
    working from Worker thread 8
    working from Worker thread 9
    Worker thread ends. 

Process finished with exit code 0

守护线程就像一个普通的线程，除了JVM只会在其他非守护线程不存在时关闭。守护进程线程通常用于为应用程序执行服务。