><B>);</B> 
</P>
<P><B>void * pthread_getspecific(pthread_key_t </B><I>key</I><B>);</B>
</P>
<H2><A HREF="#toc2" NAME="sect2">Description</A></H2>
<P>Programs often need global or static variables that have different
values in different threads. Since threads share one memory space,
this cannot be achieved with regular variables. Thread-specific data
is the POSIX threads answer to this need. 
</P>
<P>Each thread possesses a private memory block, the thread-specific
data area, or TSD area for short. This are