NAME
IO::Socket - Object interface to socket communications
SYNOPSIS
use strict;
use warnings;
use IO::Socket qw(AF_INET AF_UNIX);
# create a new AF_INET socket
my $sock = IO::Socket->new(Domain => AF_INET);
# which is the same as
$sock = IO::Socket::INET->new();
# create a new AF_UNIX socket
$sock = IO::Socket->new(Domain => AF_UNIX);
# which is the same as
$sock = IO::Socket::UNIX->new();
DESCRIPTION
IO::Socket
provides an object-oriented, IO::Handle-based interface to creating and using sockets via Socket, which provides a near one-to-one interface to the C socket library.
IO::Socket
is a base class that really only defines methods for those operations which are common to all types of sockets. Operations which are specific to a particular socket domain have methods defined in subclasses of IO::Socket
. See IO::Socket::INET, IO::Socket::UNIX, and IO::Socket::IP for examples of such a subclass.
IO::Socket
will export all functions (and constants) defined by Socket.
CONSTRUCTOR ARGUMENTS
Given that IO::Socket
doesn't have attributes in the traditional sense, the following arguments, rather than attributes, can be passed into the constructor.
Constructor arguments should be passed in Key => 'Value'
pairs.
The only required argument is "Domain" in IO::Socket.
Blocking
my $sock = IO::Socket->new(..., Blocking => 1);
$sock = IO::Socket->new(..., Blocking => 0);
If defined but false, the socket will be set to non-blocking mode. If not specified it defaults to 1
(blocking mode).
Domain
my $sock = IO::Socket->new(Domain => IO::Socket::AF_INET);
$sock = IO::Socket->new(Domain => IO::Socket::AF_UNIX);
The socket domain will define which subclass of IO::Socket
to use. The two options available along with this distribution are AF_INET
and AF_UNIX
.
AF_INET
is for the internet address family of sockets and is handled via IO::Socket::INET. AF_INET
sockets are bound to an internet address and port.
AF_UNIX
is for the unix domain socket and is handled via IO::Socket::UNIX. AF_UNIX
sockets are bound to the file system as their address name space.
This argument is required. All other arguments are optional.
Listen
my $sock = IO::Socket->new(..., Listen => 5);
Listen should be an integer value or left unset.
If provided, this argument will place the socket into listening mode. New connections can then be accepted using the "accept" in IO::Socket method. The value given is used as the listen(2)
queue size.
If the Listen
argument is given, but false, the queue size will be set to 5.
Timeout
my $sock = IO::Socket->new(..., Timeout => 5);
The timeout value, in seconds, for this socket connection. How exactly this value is utilized is defined in the socket domain subclasses that make use of the value.
Type
my $sock = IO::Socket->new(..., Type => IO::Socket::SOCK_STREAM);
The socket type that will be used. These are usually SOCK_STREAM
, SOCK_DGRAM
, or SOCK_RAW
. If this argument is left undefined an attempt will be made to infer the type from the service name.
For example, you'll usually use SOCK_STREAM
with a tcp
connection and SOCK_DGRAM
with a udp
connection.
CONSTRUCTORS
IO::Socket
extends the IO::Handle constructor.
new
my $sock = IO::Socket->new();
# get a new IO::Socket::INET instance
$sock = IO::Socket->new(Domain => IO::Socket::AF_INET);
# get a new IO::Socket::UNIX instance
$sock = IO::Socket->new(Domain => IO::Socket::AF_UNIX);
# Domain is the only required argument
$sock = IO::Socket->new(
Domain => IO::Socket::AF_INET, # AF_INET, AF_UNIX
Type => IO::Socket::SOCK_STREAM, # SOCK_STREAM, SOCK_DGRAM, ...
Proto => 'tcp', # 'tcp', 'udp', IPPROTO_TCP, IPPROTO_UDP
# and so on...
);
Creates an IO::Socket
, which is a reference to a newly created symbol (see the Symbol package). new
optionally takes arguments, these arguments are defined in "CONSTRUCTOR ARGUMENTS" in IO::Socket.
Any of the "CONSTRUCTOR ARGUMENTS" in IO::Socket may be passed to the constructor, but if any arguments are provided, then one of them must be the "Domain" in IO::Socket argument. The "Domain" in IO::Socket argument can, by default, be either AF_INET
or AF_UNIX
. Other domains can be used if a proper subclass for the domain family is registered. All other arguments will be passed to the configuration
method of the package for that domain.
If the constructor fails it will return undef
and set the $errstr
package variable to contain an error message.
$sock = IO::Socket->new(...)
or die "Cannot create socket - $IO::Socket::errstr\n";
For legacy reasons the error message is also set into the global $@
variable, and you may still find older code which looks here instead.
$sock = IO::Socket->new(...)
or die "Cannot create socket - $@\n";
METHODS
IO::Socket
inherits all methods from IO::Handle and implements the following new ones.
accept
my $client_sock = $sock->accept();
my $inet_sock = $sock->accept('IO::Socket::INET');
The accept method will perform the system call accept
on the socket and return a new object. The new object will be created in the same class as the listen socket, unless a specific package name is specified. This object can be used to communicate with the client that was trying to connect.
This differs slightly from the accept
function in perlfunc.
In a scalar context the new socket is returned, or undef
upon failure. In a list context a two-element array is returned containing the new socket and the peer address; the list will be empty upon failure.
atmark
my $integer = $sock->atmark();
# read in some data on a given socket
my $data;
$sock->read($data, 1024) until $sock->atmark;
# or, export the function to use:
use IO::Socket 'sockatmark';
$sock->read($data, 1024) until sockatmark($sock);
True if the socket is currently positioned at the urgent data mark, false otherwise. If your system doesn't yet implement sockatmark
this will throw an exception.
If your system does not support sockatmark
, the use
declaration will fail at compile time.
autoflush
# by default, autoflush will be turned on when referenced
$sock->autoflush(); # turns on autoflush
# turn off autoflush
$sock->autoflush(0);
# turn on autoflush
$sock->autoflush(1);
This attribute isn't overridden from IO::Handle's implementation. However, since we turn it on by default, it's worth mentioning here.
bind
use Socket qw(pack_sockaddr_in);
my $port = 3000;
my $ip_address = '0.0.0.0';
my $packed_addr = pack_sockaddr_in($port, $ip_address);
$sock->bind($packed_addr);
Binds a network address to a socket, just as bind(2)
does. Returns true if it succeeded, false otherwise. You should provide a packed address of the appropriate type for the socket.
connected
my $peer_addr = $sock->connected();
if ($peer_addr) {
say "We're connected to $peer_addr";
}
If the socket is in a connected state, the peer address is returned. If the socket is not in a connected state, undef
is returned.
Note that this method considers a half-open TCP socket to be "in a connected state". Specifically, it does not distinguish between the ESTABLISHED and CLOSE-WAIT TCP states; it returns the peer address, rather than undef
, in either case. Thus, in general, it cannot be used to reliably learn whether the peer has initiated a graceful shutdown because in most cases (see below) the local TCP state machine remains in CLOSE-WAIT until the local application calls "shutdown" in IO::Socket or close
. Only at that point does this function return undef
.
The "in most cases" hedge is because local TCP state machine behavior may depend on the peer's socket options. In particular, if the peer socket has SO_LINGER
enabled with a zero timeout, then the peer's close
will generate a RST
segment. Upon receipt of that segment, the local TCP transitions immediately to CLOSED, and in that state, this method will return undef
.
getsockopt
my $value = $sock->getsockopt(SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEADDR);
my $buf = $socket->getsockopt(SOL_SOCKET, SO_RCVBUF);
say "Receive buffer is $buf bytes";
Get an option associated with the socket. Levels other than SOL_SOCKET
may be specified here. As a convenience, this method will unpack a byte buffer of the correct size back into a number.
listen
$sock->listen(5);
Does the same thing that the listen(2)
system call does. Returns true if it succeeded, false otherwise. Listens to a socket with a given queue size.
peername
my $sockaddr_in = $sock->peername();
Returns the packed sockaddr
address of the other end of the socket connection. It calls getpeername
.
protocol
my $proto = $sock->protocol();
Returns the number for the protocol being used on the socket, if known. If the protocol is unknown, as with an AF_UNIX
socket, zero is returned.
recv
my $buffer = "";
my $length = 1024;
my $flags = 0; # default. optional
$sock->recv($buffer, $length);
$sock->recv($buffer, $length, $flags);
Similar in functionality to "recv" in perlfunc.
Receives a message on a socket. Attempts to receive $length
characters of data into $buffer
from the specified socket. $buffer
will be grown or shrunk to the length actually read. Takes the same flags as the system call of the same name. Returns the address of the sender if socket's protocol supports this; returns an empty string otherwise. If there's an error, returns undef
. This call is actually implemented in terms of the recvfrom(2)
system call.
Flags are ORed together values, such as MSG_BCAST
, MSG_OOB
, MSG_TRUNC
. The default value for the flags is 0
.
The cached value of "peername" in IO::Socket is updated with the result of recv
.
Note: In Perl v5.30 and newer, if the socket has been marked as :utf8
, recv
will throw an exception. The :encoding(...)
layer implicitly introduces the :utf8
layer. See "binmode" in perlfunc.
Note: In Perl versions older than v5.30, depending on the status of the socket, either (8-bit) bytes or characters are received. By default all sockets operate on bytes, but for example if the socket has been changed using "binmode" in perlfunc to operate with the :encoding(UTF-8)
I/O layer (see the "open" in perlfunc pragma), the I/O will operate on UTF8-encoded Unicode characters, not bytes. Similarly for the :encoding
layer: in that case pretty much any characters can be read.
send
my $message = "Hello, world!";
my $flags = 0; # defaults to zero
my $to = '0.0.0.0'; # optional destination
my $sent = $sock->send($message);
$sent = $sock->send($message, $flags);
$sent = $sock->send($message, $flags, $to);
Similar in functionality to "send" in perlfunc.
Sends a message on a socket. Attempts to send the scalar message to the socket. Takes the same flags as the system call of the same name. On unconnected sockets, you must specify a destination to send to, in which case it does a sendto(2)
syscall. Returns the number of characters sent, or undef
on error. The sendmsg(2)
syscall is currently unimplemented.
The flags
option is optional and defaults to 0
.
After a successful send with $to
, further calls to send
on an unconnected socket without $to
will send to the same address, and $to
will be used as the result of "peername" in IO::Socket.
Note: In Perl v5.30 and newer, if the socket has been marked as :utf8
, send
will throw an exception. The :encoding(...)
layer implicitly introduces the :utf8
layer. See "binmode" in perlfunc.
Note: In Perl versions older than v5.30, depending on the status of the socket, either (8-bit) bytes or characters are sent. By default all sockets operate on bytes, but for example if the socket has been changed using "binmode" in perlfunc to operate with the :encoding(UTF-8)
I/O layer (see the "open" in perlfunc pragma), the I/O will operate on UTF8-encoded Unicode characters, not bytes. Similarly for the :encoding
layer: in that case pretty much any characters can be sent.
setsockopt
$sock->setsockopt(SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEADDR, 1);
$sock->setsockopt(SOL_SOCKET, SO_RCVBUF, 64*1024);
Set option associated with the socket. Levels other than SOL_SOCKET
may be specified here. As a convenience, this method will convert a number into a packed byte buffer.
shutdown
$sock->shutdown(SHUT_RD); # we stopped reading data
$sock->shutdown(SHUT_WR); # we stopped writing data
$sock->shutdown(SHUT_RDWR); # we stopped using this socket
Shuts down a socket connection in the manner indicated by the value passed in, which has the same interpretation as in the syscall of the same name.
This is useful with sockets when you want to tell the other side you're done writing but not done reading, or vice versa. It's also a more insistent form of close
because it also disables the file descriptor in any forked copies in other processes.
Returns 1
for success; on error, returns undef
if the socket is not a valid filehandle, or returns 0
and sets $!
for any other failure.
sockdomain
my $domain = $sock->sockdomain();
Returns the number for the socket domain type. For example, for an AF_INET
socket the value of &AF_INET
will be returned.
socket
my $sock = IO::Socket->new(); # no values given
# now let's actually get a socket with the socket method
# domain, type, and protocol are required
$sock = $sock->socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 'tcp');
Opens a socket of the specified kind and returns it. Domain, type, and protocol are specified the same as for the syscall of the same name.
socketpair
my ($r, $w) = $sock->socketpair(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM, PF_UNSPEC);
($r, $w) = IO::Socket::UNIX
->socketpair(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM, PF_UNSPEC);
Will return a list of two sockets created (read and write), or an empty list on failure.
Differs slightly from socketpair
in perlfunc in that the argument list is a bit simpler.
sockname
my $packed_addr = $sock->sockname();
Returns the packed sockaddr
address of this end of the connection. It's the same as getsockname(2)
.
sockopt
my $value = $sock->sockopt(SO_REUSEADDR);
$sock->sockopt(SO_REUSEADDR, 1);
Unified method to both set and get options in the SOL_SOCKET
level. If called with one argument then "getsockopt" in IO::Socket is called, otherwise "setsockopt" in IO::Socket is called.
socktype
my $type = $sock->socktype();
Returns the number for the socket type. For example, for a SOCK_STREAM
socket the value of &SOCK_STREAM
will be returned.
timeout
my $seconds = $sock->timeout();
my $old_val = $sock->timeout(5); # set new and return old value
Set or get the timeout value (in seconds) associated with this socket. If called without any arguments then the current setting is returned. If called with an argument the current setting is changed and the previous value returned.
This method is available to all IO::Socket
implementations but may or may not be used by the individual domain subclasses.
EXAMPLES
Let's create a TCP server on localhost:3333
.
use strict;
use warnings;
use feature 'say';
use IO::Socket qw(AF_INET AF_UNIX SOCK_STREAM SHUT_WR);
my $server = IO::Socket->new(
Domain => AF_INET,
Type => SOCK_STREAM,
Proto => 'tcp',
LocalHost => '0.0.0.0',
LocalPort => 3333,
ReusePort => 1,
Listen => 5,
) || die "Can't open socket: $IO::Socket::errstr";
say "Waiting on 3333";
while (1) {
# waiting for a new client connection
my $client = $server->accept();
# get information about a newly connected client
my $client_address = $client->peerhost();
my $client_port = $client->peerport();
say "Connection from $client_address:$client_port";
# read up to 1024 characters from the connected client
my $data = "";
$client->recv($data, 1024);
say "received data: $data";
# write response data to the connected client
$data = "ok";
$client->send($data);
# notify client that response has been sent
$client->shutdown(SHUT_WR);
}
$server->close();
A client for such a server could be
use strict;
use warnings;
use feature 'say';
use IO::Socket qw(AF_INET AF_UNIX SOCK_STREAM SHUT_WR);
my $client = IO::Socket->new(
Domain => AF_INET,
Type => SOCK_STREAM,
proto => 'tcp',
PeerPort => 3333,
PeerHost => '0.0.0.0',
) || die "Can't open socket: $IO::Socket::errstr";
say "Sending Hello World!";
my $size = $client->send("Hello World!");
say "Sent data of length: $size";
$client->shutdown(SHUT_WR);
my $buffer;
$client->recv($buffer, 1024);
say "Got back $buffer";
$client->close();
LIMITATIONS
On some systems, for an IO::Socket object created with new_from_fd
, or created with "accept" in IO::Socket from such an object, the "protocol" in IO::Socket, "sockdomain" in IO::Socket and "socktype" in IO::Socket methods may return undef
.
SEE ALSO
Socket, IO::Handle, IO::Socket::INET, IO::Socket::UNIX, IO::Socket::IP
AUTHOR
Graham Barr. atmark() by Lincoln Stein. Currently maintained by the Perl 5 Porters. Please report all bugs at https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1997-8 Graham Barr <[email protected]>. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
The atmark() implementation: Copyright 2001, Lincoln Stein <[email protected]>. This module is distributed under the same terms as Perl itself. Feel free to use, modify and redistribute it as long as you retain the correct attribution.