可以使用threadlocal变量的两个用例- 1-当我们需要将状态与线程关联时(例如，用户ID或事务ID)。这通常发生在web应用程序中，每个发送到servlet的请求都有一个与之关联的唯一transactionID。

// This class will provide a thread local variable which
// will provide a unique ID for each thread
class ThreadId {
    // Atomic integer containing the next thread ID to be assigned
    private static final AtomicInteger nextId = new AtomicInteger(0);

    // Thread local variable containing each thread's ID
    private static final ThreadLocal<Integer> threadId =
        ThreadLocal.<Integer>withInitial(()-> {return nextId.getAndIncrement();});

    // Returns the current thread's unique ID, assigning it if necessary
    public static int get() {
        return threadId.get();
    }
}

注意，这里的withInitial方法是使用lambda表达式实现的。 2-另一个用例是当我们想要一个线程安全的实例时，我们不想使用同步，因为同步的性能成本更高。其中一种情况是使用SimpleDateFormat。由于SimpleDateFormat不是线程安全的，所以我们必须提供机制使其线程安全。

public class ThreadLocalDemo1 implements Runnable {
    // threadlocal variable is created
    private static final ThreadLocal<SimpleDateFormat> dateFormat = new ThreadLocal<SimpleDateFormat>(){
        @Override
        protected SimpleDateFormat initialValue(){
            System.out.println("Initializing SimpleDateFormat for - " + Thread.currentThread().getName() );
            return new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
        }
    };

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ThreadLocalDemo1 td = new ThreadLocalDemo1();
        // Two threads are created
        Thread t1 = new Thread(td, "Thread-1");
        Thread t2 = new Thread(td, "Thread-2");
        t1.start();
        t2.start();
    }

    @Override
    public void run() {
        System.out.println("Thread run execution started for " + Thread.currentThread().getName());
        System.out.println("Date formatter pattern is  " + dateFormat.get().toPattern());
        System.out.println("Formatted date is " + dateFormat.get().format(new Date()));
    } 

}

ThreadLocal in Java had been introduced on JDK 1.2 but was later generified in JDK 1.5 to introduce type safety on ThreadLocal variable. ThreadLocal can be associated with Thread scope, all the code which is executed by Thread has access to ThreadLocal variables but two thread can not see each others ThreadLocal variable. Each thread holds an exclusive copy of ThreadLocal variable which becomes eligible to Garbage collection after thread finished or died, normally or due to any Exception, Given those ThreadLocal variable doesn't have any other live references. ThreadLocal variables in Java are generally private static fields in Classes and maintain its state inside Thread.

阅读更多:Java示例程序和教程中的ThreadLocal

什么时候?

当一个对象不是线程安全的时候，为了避免影响可伸缩性的同步，给每个线程一个对象，并保持它的线程作用域，即ThreadLocal。最常用但不是线程安全的对象之一是数据库Connection和JMSConnection。

如何?

例如，Spring框架通过将这些连接对象保存在ThreadLocal变量中，在幕后大量使用ThreadLocal来管理事务。在高层，当事务启动时，它获得连接(并禁用自动提交)并将其保存在ThreadLocal中。在进一步的db调用中，它使用相同的连接与db通信。最后，它从ThreadLocal获取连接，提交(或回滚)事务并释放连接。

我认为log4j也使用ThreadLocal来维护MDC。

在《Java并发实践》一书中有一个很好的例子。作者(Joshua Bloch)解释了线程限制是实现线程安全的最简单方法之一，而ThreadLocal是维护线程限制的更正式的方法。最后，他还解释了人们如何滥用它作为全局变量。

我已经从提到的书中复制了文本，但代码3.10是缺失的，因为它不太重要，了解ThreadLocal应该在哪里使用。

Thread-local variables are often used to prevent sharing in designs based on mutable Singletons or global variables. For example, a single-threaded application might maintain a global database connection that is initialized at startup to avoid having to pass a Connection to every method. Since JDBC connections may not be thread-safe, a multithreaded application that uses a global connection without additional coordination is not thread-safe either. By using a ThreadLocal to store the JDBC connection, as in ConnectionHolder in Listing 3.10, each thread will have its own connection. ThreadLocal is widely used in implementing application frameworks. For example, J2EE containers associate a transaction context with an executing thread for the duration of an EJB call. This is easily implemented using a static Thread-Local holding the transaction context: when framework code needs to determine what transaction is currently running, it fetches the transaction context from this ThreadLocal. This is convenient in that it reduces the need to pass execution context information into every method, but couples any code that uses this mechanism to the framework. It is easy to abuse ThreadLocal by treating its thread confinement property as a license to use global variables or as a means of creating “hidden” method arguments. Like global variables, thread-local variables can detract from reusability and introduce hidden couplings among classes, and should therefore be used with care.

文档说得很好:“每个访问[线程局部变量]的线程(通过它的get或set方法)都有它自己的、独立初始化的变量副本”。

当每个线程必须有自己的某个副本时，可以使用一个。默认情况下，数据在线程之间共享。

从本质上讲，当您需要一个变量的值依赖于当前线程，并且不方便您以其他方式将值附加到线程(例如，子类化线程)。

典型的情况是，其他框架创建了运行代码的线程，例如servlet容器，或者使用ThreadLocal更有意义，因为你的变量“在它的逻辑位置”(而不是挂在thread子类或其他哈希映射中的变量)。

在我的网站上，我有一些关于何时使用ThreadLocal的进一步讨论和示例，您可能也会感兴趣。

有些人主张使用ThreadLocal作为一种方法，在某些并发算法中，当你需要线程号时，将“线程ID”附加到每个线程上(参见Herlihy & Shavit)。在这种情况下，检查你是否真的得到了好处!