另一个不需要更改现有代码的解决方案:

import Queue             # Python 2.x
#from queue import Queue # Python 3.x

from threading import Thread

def foo(bar):
    print 'hello {0}'.format(bar)     # Python 2.x
    #print('hello {0}'.format(bar))   # Python 3.x
    return 'foo'

que = Queue.Queue()      # Python 2.x
#que = Queue()           # Python 3.x

t = Thread(target=lambda q, arg1: q.put(foo(arg1)), args=(que, 'world!'))
t.start()
t.join()
result = que.get()
print result             # Python 2.x
#print(result)           # Python 3.x

它也可以很容易地调整到多线程环境:

import Queue             # Python 2.x
#from queue import Queue # Python 3.x
from threading import Thread

def foo(bar):
    print 'hello {0}'.format(bar)     # Python 2.x
    #print('hello {0}'.format(bar))   # Python 3.x
    return 'foo'

que = Queue.Queue()      # Python 2.x
#que = Queue()           # Python 3.x

threads_list = list()

t = Thread(target=lambda q, arg1: q.put(foo(arg1)), args=(que, 'world!'))
t.start()
threads_list.append(t)

# Add more threads here
...
threads_list.append(t2)
...
threads_list.append(t3)
...

# Join all the threads
for t in threads_list:
    t.join()

# Check thread's return value
while not que.empty():
    result = que.get()
    print result         # Python 2.x
    #print(result)       # Python 3.x

FWIW，多处理模块使用Pool类提供了一个很好的接口。如果您希望坚持使用线程而不是进程，可以直接使用multiprocessing.pool.ThreadPool类作为替代。

def foo(bar, baz):
  print 'hello {0}'.format(bar)
  return 'foo' + baz

from multiprocessing.pool import ThreadPool
pool = ThreadPool(processes=1)

async_result = pool.apply_async(foo, ('world', 'foo')) # tuple of args for foo

# do some other stuff in the main process

return_val = async_result.get()  # get the return value from your function.

我正在使用这个包装器，它可以轻松地将任何函数转换为在线程中运行-照顾它的返回值或异常。它不会增加队列开销。

def threading_func(f):
    """Decorator for running a function in a thread and handling its return
    value or exception"""
    def start(*args, **kw):
        def run():
            try:
                th.ret = f(*args, **kw)
            except:
                th.exc = sys.exc_info()
        def get(timeout=None):
            th.join(timeout)
            if th.exc:
                raise th.exc[0], th.exc[1], th.exc[2] # py2
                ##raise th.exc[1] #py3                
            return th.ret
        th = threading.Thread(None, run)
        th.exc = None
        th.get = get
        th.start()
        return th
    return start

用法示例

def f(x):
    return 2.5 * x
th = threading_func(f)(4)
print("still running?:", th.is_alive())
print("result:", th.get(timeout=1.0))

@threading_func
def th_mul(a, b):
    return a * b
th = th_mul("text", 2.5)

try:
    print(th.get())
except TypeError:
    print("exception thrown ok.")

线程模块注意事项

线程函数的舒适返回值和异常处理是“python”的常见需求，而且threading模块应该已经提供了——可能直接在标准Thread类中。对于简单的任务，ThreadPool有太多的开销——3个管理线程，很多官僚主义。不幸的是，线程的布局最初是从Java中复制的——例如，从仍然无用的构造函数参数组1 (!)

您可以在线程函数的作用域之上定义一个可变变量，并将结果添加到该变量中。(我还修改了代码，使其与python3兼容)

returns = {}
def foo(bar):
    print('hello {0}'.format(bar))
    returns[bar] = 'foo'

from threading import Thread
t = Thread(target=foo, args=('world!',))
t.start()
t.join()
print(returns)

返回{'world!”:“foo”}

如果使用函数input作为结果字典的键，则保证每个惟一的输入都在结果中给出一个条目

我知道这个线程是旧的....但我也遇到了同样的问题…如果你愿意使用thread.join()

import threading

class test:

    def __init__(self):
        self.msg=""

    def hello(self,bar):
        print('hello {}'.format(bar))
        self.msg="foo"


    def main(self):
        thread = threading.Thread(target=self.hello, args=('world!',))
        thread.start()
        thread.join()
        print(self.msg)

g=test()
g.main()

我找到的大多数答案都很长，需要熟悉其他模块或高级python特性，除非他们已经熟悉答案所谈论的一切，否则会让人感到困惑。

简化方法的工作代码:

import threading

class ThreadWithResult(threading.Thread):
    def __init__(self, group=None, target=None, name=None, args=(), kwargs={}, *, daemon=None):
        def function():
            self.result = target(*args, **kwargs)
        super().__init__(group=group, target=function, name=name, daemon=daemon)

示例代码:

import time, random


def function_to_thread(n):
    count = 0
    while count < 3:
            print(f'still running thread {n}')
            count +=1
            time.sleep(3)
    result = random.random()
    print(f'Return value of thread {n} should be: {result}')
    return result


def main():
    thread1 = ThreadWithResult(target=function_to_thread, args=(1,))
    thread2 = ThreadWithResult(target=function_to_thread, args=(2,))
    thread1.start()
    thread2.start()
    thread1.join()
    thread2.join()
    print(thread1.result)
    print(thread2.result)

main()

解释: 我想大大简化事情，所以我创建了一个ThreadWithResult类，并让它继承threading.Thread。__init__中的嵌套函数函数调用我们想要保存值的线程函数，并将该嵌套函数的结果保存为实例属性self。线程执行完成后的结果。

创建this的实例与创建threading.Thread的实例是相同的。将希望在新线程上运行的函数传递给目标参数，将函数可能需要的任何参数传递给args参数，将任何关键字参数传递给kwargs参数。

e.g.

my_thread = ThreadWithResult(target=my_function, args=(arg1, arg2, arg3))

我认为这比绝大多数答案更容易理解，而且这种方法不需要额外的导入!我加入了time和random模块来模拟线程的行为，但它们并不是实现最初问题中所要求的功能所必需的。

我知道我是在这个问题被问到很久之后才回答的，但我希望这能在未来帮助更多的人!

编辑:我创建了保存线程结果的PyPI包，允许你访问上面相同的代码，并在项目中重用它(GitHub代码在这里)。PyPI包完全扩展了线程。线程类，因此您可以设置在线程上设置的任何属性。线程在ThreadWithResult类!

上面的原始答案介绍了这个子类背后的主要思想，但要了解更多信息，请参阅这里更详细的解释(来自模块docstring)。

快速使用示例:

pip3 install -U save-thread-result     # MacOS/Linux
pip  install -U save-thread-result     # Windows

python3     # MacOS/Linux
python      # Windows

from save_thread_result import ThreadWithResult

# As of Release 0.0.3, you can also specify values for
#`group`, `name`, and `daemon` if you want to set those
# values manually.
thread = ThreadWithResult(
    target = my_function,
    args   = (my_function_arg1, my_function_arg2, ...)
    kwargs = {my_function_kwarg1: kwarg1_value, my_function_kwarg2: kwarg2_value, ...}
)

thread.start()
thread.join()
if getattr(thread, 'result', None):
    print(thread.result)
else:
    # thread.result attribute not set - something caused
    # the thread to terminate BEFORE the thread finished
    # executing the function passed in through the
    # `target` argument
    print('ERROR! Something went wrong while executing this thread, and the function you passed in did NOT complete!!')

# seeing help about the class and information about the threading.Thread super class methods and attributes available:
help(ThreadWithResult)