How do we stop a thread in Java?

To stop a thread one can use a volatile reference pointing to the current thread that can be set to null by other threads to indicate the current thread should stop its execution:

--

	private static class MyStopThread extends Thread {
	private volatile Thread stopIndicator;
	public void start() {
	stopIndicator = new Thread(this);
	stopIndicator.start();
	}
	public void stopThread() {
	stopIndicator = null;
	}
	@Override
	public void run() {
	Thread thisThread = Thread.currentThread();
	while(thisThread == stopIndicator) {
	try {
	Thread.sleep(1000);
	} catch (InterruptedException e) {
	}
	}
	}
	}

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