# OpenMP Sections
**[Sections](https://hpc-tutorials.llnl.gov/openmp/sections_directive/)** is the OpenMP construct for distributing a fixed set of independent code blocks across threads at compile time, without requiring a loop structure. This is useful for distinct operations like compressing a buffer, encrypting a header, and writing a log simultaneously, where each block is wrapped in `#pragma omp section` and shares no data with the others.

```c
#pragma omp parallel sections
{
    #pragma omp section
    compress(data);

    #pragma omp section
    encrypt(header);

    #pragma omp section
    write_log(meta);
}
```

If there are more `section` blocks than threads, the excess blocks are queued and picked up as threads become free. If there are fewer blocks than threads, the extra threads sit idle. For a large or dynamic number of tasks, [[tasks-openmp|tasks]] are more flexible; `sections` is simpler when the count is small and fixed.