lock statement

The lock statement acquires the mutual-exclusion lock for a given object, executes a statement block, and then releases the lock. While a lock is held, the thread that holds the lock can again acquire and release the lock. Any other thread is blocked from acquiring the lock and waits until the lock is released.

The lock statement is of the form

lock (x)
{
    // Your code...
}

where x is an expression of a reference type. It's precisely equivalent to

object __lockObj = x;
bool __lockWasTaken = false;
try
{
    System.Threading.Monitor.Enter(__lockObj, ref __lockWasTaken);
    // Your code...
}
finally
{
    if (__lockWasTaken) System.Threading.Monitor.Exit(__lockObj);
}

Since the code uses a try...finally block, the lock is released even if an exception is thrown within the body of a lock statement.

You can't use the await keyword in the body of a lock statement.

Remarks

When you synchronize thread access to a shared resource, lock on a dedicated object instance (for example, private readonly object balanceLock = new object();) or another instance that is unlikely to be used as a lock object by unrelated parts of the code. Avoid using the same lock object instance for different shared resources, as it might result in deadlock or lock contention. In particular, avoid using the following as lock objects:

• this, as it might be used by the callers as a lock.
• Type instances, as those might be obtained by the typeof operator or reflection.
• string instances, including string literals, as those might be interned.

Example

The following example defines an Account class that synchronizes access to its private balancefield by locking on a dedicated balanceLock instance. Using the same instance for locking ensures that the balance field cannot be updated simultaneously by two threads attempting to call the Debit or Credit methods simultaneously.

using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

public class Account
{
    private readonly object balanceLock = new object();
    private decimal balance;

    public Account(decimal initialBalance)
    {
        balance = initialBalance;
    }

    public decimal Debit(decimal amount)
    {
        lock (balanceLock)
        {
            if (balance >= amount)
            {
                Console.WriteLine($"Balance before debit :{balance, 5}");
                Console.WriteLine($"Amount to remove     :{amount, 5}");
                balance = balance - amount;
                Console.WriteLine($"Balance after debit  :{balance, 5}");
                return amount;
            }
            else
            {
                return 0;
            }
        }
    }

    public void Credit(decimal amount)
    {
        lock (balanceLock)
        {
            Console.WriteLine($"Balance before credit:{balance, 5}");
            Console.WriteLine($"Amount to add        :{amount, 5}");
            balance = balance + amount;
            Console.WriteLine($"Balance after credit :{balance, 5}");
        }
    }
}

class AccountTest
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var account = new Account(1000);
        var tasks = new Task[100];
        for (int i = 0; i < tasks.Length; i++)
        {
            tasks[i] = Task.Run(() => RandomlyUpdate(account));
        }
        Task.WaitAll(tasks);
    }

    static void RandomlyUpdate(Account account)
    {
        var rnd = new Random();
        for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
        {
            var amount = rnd.Next(1, 100);
            bool doCredit = rnd.NextDouble() < 0.5;
            if (doCredit)
            {
                account.Credit(amount);
            }
            else
            {
                account.Debit(amount);
            }
        }
    }
}