1SENDFILE(2) Linux Programmer's Manual SENDFILE(2)
2
6 sendfile - transfer data between file descriptors
7
9 #include <sys/sendfile.h>
10 ssize_t sendfile(int out_fd, int in_fd, off_t *offset, size_t count);
12
14 sendfile() copies data between one file descriptor and another.
15 Because this copying is done within the kernel, sendfile() is more
16 efficient than the combination of read(2) and write(2), which would
17 require transferring data to and from user space.
18 in_fd should be a file descriptor opened for reading and out_fd should
20 be a descriptor opened for writing.
21 If offset is not NULL, then it points to a variable holding the file
23 offset from which sendfile() will start reading data from in_fd. When
24 sendfile() returns, this variable will be set to the offset of the byte
25 following the last byte that was read. If offset is not NULL, then
26 sendfile() does not modify the current file offset of in_fd; otherwise
27 the current file offset is adjusted to reflect the number of bytes read
28 from in_fd.
29 If offset is NULL, then data will be read from in_fd starting at the
31 current file offset, and the file offset will be updated by the call.
32 count is the number of bytes to copy between the file descriptors.
34 The in_fd argument must correspond to a file which supports
36 mmap(2)-like operations (i.e., it cannot be a socket).
37 In Linux kernels before 2.6.33, out_fd must refer to a socket. Since
39 Linux 2.6.33 it can be any file. If it is a regular file, then send‐
40 file() changes the file offset appropriately.
41
43 If the transfer was successful, the number of bytes written to out_fd
44 is returned. On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately.
45
47 EAGAIN Nonblocking I/O has been selected using O_NONBLOCK and the write
48 would block.
49 EBADF The input file was not opened for reading or the output file was
51 not opened for writing.
52 EFAULT Bad address.
54 EINVAL Descriptor is not valid or locked, or an mmap(2)-like operation
56 is not available for in_fd.
57 EIO Unspecified error while reading from in_fd.
59 ENOMEM Insufficient memory to read from in_fd.
61
63 sendfile() is a new feature in Linux 2.2. The include file <sys/send‐
64 file.h> is present since glibc 2.1.
65
67 Not specified in POSIX.1-2001, or other standards.
68 Other UNIX systems implement sendfile() with different semantics and
70 prototypes. It should not be used in portable programs.
71
73 If you plan to use sendfile() for sending files to a TCP socket, but
74 need to send some header data in front of the file contents, you will
75 find it useful to employ the TCP_CORK option, described in tcp(7), to
76 minimize the number of packets and to tune performance.
77 In Linux 2.4 and earlier, out_fd could also refer to a regular file,
79 and sendfile() changed the current offset of that file.
80 The original Linux sendfile() system call was not designed to handle
82 large file offsets. Consequently, Linux 2.4 added sendfile64(), with a
83 wider type for the offset argument. The glibc sendfile() wrapper func‐
84 tion transparently deals with the kernel differences.
85 Applications may wish to fall back to read(2)/write(2) in the case
87 where sendfile() fails with EINVAL or ENOSYS.
88 The Linux-specific splice(2) call supports transferring data between
90 arbitrary files (e.g., a pair of sockets).
91
93 mmap(2), open(2), socket(2), splice(2)
94
97 This page is part of release 3.53 of the Linux man-pages project. A
98 description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can
99 be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
100Linux 2011-09-14 SENDFILE(2)