socket(3XNET) X/Open Networking Services Library Functions socket(3XNET)
NAME
socket - create an endpoint for communication
SYNOPSIS
cc [ flag ... ] file ... -lxnet [ library ... ]
#include <sys/socket.h>
int socket(int domain, int type, int protocol);
DESCRIPTION
The socket() function creates an unbound socket in a communications domain, and returns a file descriptor that can be used in later func-
tion calls that operate on sockets.
The <sys/socket.h> header defines at least the following values for the domain argument:
AF_UNIX File system pathnames.
AF_INET Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) address.
AF_INET6 Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) address.
The type argument specifies the socket type, which determines the semantics of communication over the socket. The socket types supported
by the system are implementation-dependent. Possible socket types include:
SOCK_STREAM Provides sequenced, reliable, bidirectional, connection-mode byte streams, and may provide a transmission mechanism
for out-of-band data.
SOCK_DGRAM Provides datagrams, which are connectionless-mode, unreliable messages of fixed maximum length.
SOCK_SEQPACKET Provides sequenced, reliable, bidirectional, connection-mode transmission path for records. A record can be sent
using one or more output operations and received using one or more input operations, but a single operation never
transfers part of more than one record. Record boundaries are visible to the receiver via the MSG_EOR flag.
If the protocol argument is non-zero, it must specify a protocol that is supported by the address family. The protocols supported by the
system are implementation-dependent.
The process may need to have appropriate privileges to use the socket() function or to create some sockets.
PARAMETERS
The function takes the following arguments:
domain Specifies the communications domain in which a socket is to be created.
type Specifies the type of socket to be created.
protocol Specifies a particular protocol to be used with the socket. Specifying a protocol of 0 causes socket() to use an unspeci-
fied default protocol appropriate for the requested socket type.
The domain argument specifies the address family used in the communications domain. The address families supported by the system are
implementation-dependent.
USAGE
The documentation for specific address families specify which protocols each address family supports. The documentation for specific pro-
tocols specify which socket types each protocol supports.
The application can determine if an address family is supported by trying to create a socket with domain set to the protocol in question.
RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion, socket() returns a nonnegative integer, the socket file descriptor. Otherwise a value of -1 is returned and
errno is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
The socket() function will fail if:
EAFNOSUPPORT The implementation does not support the specified address family.
EMFILE No more file descriptors are available for this process.
ENFILE No more file descriptors are available for the system.
EPROTONOSUPPORT The protocol is not supported by the address family, or the protocol is not supported by the implementation.
EPROTOTYPE The socket type is not supported by the protocol.
The socket() function may fail if:
EACCES The process does not have appropriate privileges.
ENOBUFS Insufficient resources were available in the system to perform the operation.
ENOMEM Insufficient memory was available to fulfill the request.
ENOSR There were insufficient STREAMS resources available for the operation to complete.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Interface Stability |Standard |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|MT-Level |MT-Safe |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
SEE ALSO
accept(3XNET), bind(3XNET), connect(3XNET), getsockname(3XNET), getsockopt(3XNET), listen(3XNET), recv(3XNET), recvfrom(3XNET),
recvmsg(3XNET), send(3XNET), sendmsg(3XNET), setsockopt(3XNET), shutdown(3XNET), socketpair(3XNET), attributes(5), standards(5)
SunOS 5.10 10 Jun 2002 socket(3XNET)