1RECV(2)                    Linux Programmer's Manual                   RECV(2)
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NAME

6       recv, recvfrom, recvmsg - receive a message from a socket
7

SYNOPSIS

9       #include <sys/types.h>
10       #include <sys/socket.h>
11
12       ssize_t recv(int sockfd, void *buf, size_t len, int flags);
13
14       ssize_t recvfrom(int sockfd, void *buf, size_t len, int flags,
15                        struct sockaddr *src_addr, socklen_t *addrlen);
16
17       ssize_t recvmsg(int sockfd, struct msghdr *msg, int flags);
18

DESCRIPTION

20       The  recv(),  recvfrom(),  and recvmsg() calls are used to receive mes‐
21       sages from a socket.  They may be used to receive data on both  connec‐
22       tionless  and  connection-oriented  sockets.  This page first describes
23       common features of all three system calls, and then describes the  dif‐
24       ferences between the calls.
25
26       The  only  difference  between  recv()  and  read(2) is the presence of
27       flags.  With a zero flags argument, recv() is generally  equivalent  to
28       read(2) (but see NOTES).  Also, the following call
29
30           recv(sockfd, buf, len, flags);
31
32       is equivalent to
33
34           recvfrom(sockfd, buf, len, flags, NULL, NULL);
35
36       All  three calls return the length of the message on successful comple‐
37       tion.  If a message is too long to fit in the supplied  buffer,  excess
38       bytes  may  be discarded depending on the type of socket the message is
39       received from.
40
41       If no messages are available at the socket, the receive calls wait  for
42       a  message  to arrive, unless the socket is nonblocking (see fcntl(2)),
43       in which case the value -1 is returned and the external variable  errno
44       is set to EAGAIN or EWOULDBLOCK.  The receive calls normally return any
45       data available, up to the requested amount,  rather  than  waiting  for
46       receipt of the full amount requested.
47
48       An  application  can  use  select(2), poll(2), or epoll(7) to determine
49       when more data arrives on a socket.
50
51   The flags argument
52       The flags argument is formed by ORing one or more of the following val‐
53       ues:
54
55       MSG_CMSG_CLOEXEC (recvmsg() only; since Linux 2.6.23)
56              Set  the close-on-exec flag for the file descriptor received via
57              a UNIX domain file descriptor  using  the  SCM_RIGHTS  operation
58              (described  in  unix(7)).  This flag is useful for the same rea‐
59              sons as the O_CLOEXEC flag of open(2).
60
61       MSG_DONTWAIT (since Linux 2.2)
62              Enables nonblocking operation; if the operation would block, the
63              call  fails with the error EAGAIN or EWOULDBLOCK.  This provides
64              similar  behavior  to  setting  the  O_NONBLOCK  flag  (via  the
65              fcntl(2) F_SETFL operation), but differs in that MSG_DONTWAIT is
66              a per-call option, whereas O_NONBLOCK is a setting on  the  open
67              file description (see open(2)), which will affect all threads in
68              the calling process and as well as  other  processes  that  hold
69              file descriptors referring to the same open file description.
70
71       MSG_ERRQUEUE (since Linux 2.2)
72              This  flag  specifies that queued errors should be received from
73              the socket error queue.  The error is  passed  in  an  ancillary
74              message  with  a  type  dependent  on  the  protocol  (for  IPv4
75              IP_RECVERR).  The user should  supply  a  buffer  of  sufficient
76              size.   See cmsg(3) and ip(7) for more information.  The payload
77              of the original packet that caused the error is passed as normal
78              data  via  msg_iovec.   The  original destination address of the
79              datagram that caused the error is supplied via msg_name.
80
81              The error is supplied in a sock_extended_err structure:
82
83                  #define SO_EE_ORIGIN_NONE    0
84                  #define SO_EE_ORIGIN_LOCAL   1
85                  #define SO_EE_ORIGIN_ICMP    2
86                  #define SO_EE_ORIGIN_ICMP6   3
87
88                  struct sock_extended_err
89                  {
90                      uint32_t ee_errno;   /* Error number */
91                      uint8_t  ee_origin;  /* Where the error originated */
92                      uint8_t  ee_type;    /* Type */
93                      uint8_t  ee_code;    /* Code */
94                      uint8_t  ee_pad;     /* Padding */
95                      uint32_t ee_info;    /* Additional information */
96                      uint32_t ee_data;    /* Other data */
97                      /* More data may follow */
98                  };
99
100                  struct sockaddr *SO_EE_OFFENDER(struct sock_extended_err *);
101
102              ee_errno contains the errno number of the queued error.  ee_ori‐
103              gin is the origin code of where the error originated.  The other
104              fields  are  protocol-specific.   The   macro   SOCK_EE_OFFENDER
105              returns a pointer to the address of the network object where the
106              error originated from given a pointer to the ancillary  message.
107              If  this address is not known, the sa_family member of the sock‐
108              addr contains AF_UNSPEC and the other fields of the sockaddr are
109              undefined.   The  payload of the packet that caused the error is
110              passed as normal data.
111
112              For local errors, no address is passed (this can be checked with
113              the  cmsg_len  member  of the cmsghdr).  For error receives, the
114              MSG_ERRQUEUE flag is set in the msghdr.  After an error has been
115              passed,  the  pending  socket  error is regenerated based on the
116              next queued error and will be passed on the next  socket  opera‐
117              tion.
118
119       MSG_OOB
120              This flag requests receipt of out-of-band data that would not be
121              received in the normal data stream.  Some protocols place  expe‐
122              dited  data  at the head of the normal data queue, and thus this
123              flag cannot be used with such protocols.
124
125       MSG_PEEK
126              This flag causes the receive operation to return data  from  the
127              beginning  of  the receive queue without removing that data from
128              the queue.  Thus, a subsequent receive call will return the same
129              data.
130
131       MSG_TRUNC (since Linux 2.2)
132              For    raw   (AF_PACKET),   Internet   datagram   (since   Linux
133              2.4.27/2.6.8), netlink (since Linux 2.6.22), and  UNIX  datagram
134              (since  Linux 3.4) sockets: return the real length of the packet
135              or datagram, even when it was longer than the passed buffer.
136
137              For use with Internet stream sockets, see tcp(7).
138
139       MSG_WAITALL (since Linux 2.2)
140              This flag requests that  the  operation  block  until  the  full
141              request  is  satisfied.  However, the call may still return less
142              data than requested if a signal is caught, an error  or  discon‐
143              nect  occurs,  or the next data to be received is of a different
144              type than that returned.  This flag has no effect  for  datagram
145              sockets.
146
147   recvfrom()
148       recvfrom() places the received message into the buffer buf.  The caller
149       must specify the size of the buffer in len.
150
151       If src_addr is not NULL,  and  the  underlying  protocol  provides  the
152       source  address  of  the  message, that source address is placed in the
153       buffer pointed to by src_addr.  In this case, addrlen is a value-result
154       argument.  Before the call, it should be initialized to the size of the
155       buffer associated with src_addr.  Upon return, addrlen  is  updated  to
156       contain the actual size of the source address.  The returned address is
157       truncated if the buffer provided is too small; in  this  case,  addrlen
158       will return a value greater than was supplied to the call.
159
160       If  the  caller  is  not interested in the source address, src_addr and
161       addrlen should be specified as NULL.
162
163   recv()
164       The recv() call is normally used only on a connected socket  (see  con‐
165       nect(2)).  It is equivalent to the call:
166
167           recvfrom(fd, buf, len, flags, NULL, 0);
168
169   recvmsg()
170       The  recvmsg()  call  uses a msghdr structure to minimize the number of
171       directly supplied arguments.  This structure is defined as  follows  in
172       <sys/socket.h>:
173
174           struct iovec {                    /* Scatter/gather array items */
175               void  *iov_base;              /* Starting address */
176               size_t iov_len;               /* Number of bytes to transfer */
177           };
178
179           struct msghdr {
180               void         *msg_name;       /* Optional address */
181               socklen_t     msg_namelen;    /* Size of address */
182               struct iovec *msg_iov;        /* Scatter/gather array */
183               size_t        msg_iovlen;     /* # elements in msg_iov */
184               void         *msg_control;    /* Ancillary data, see below */
185               size_t        msg_controllen; /* Ancillary data buffer len */
186               int           msg_flags;      /* Flags on received message */
187           };
188
189       The  msg_name field points to a caller-allocated buffer that is used to
190       return the source address if the socket  is  unconnected.   The  caller
191       should  set  msg_namelen  to  the size of this buffer before this call;
192       upon return from a successful call, msg_namelen will contain the length
193       of  the returned address.  If the application does not need to know the
194       source address, msg_name can be specified as NULL.
195
196       The fields msg_iov and msg_iovlen describe scatter-gather locations, as
197       discussed in readv(2).
198
199       The  field  msg_control,  which  has length msg_controllen, points to a
200       buffer for other protocol  control-related  messages  or  miscellaneous
201       ancillary  data.   When recvmsg() is called, msg_controllen should con‐
202       tain the length of the available buffer  in  msg_control;  upon  return
203       from  a  successful call it will contain the length of the control mes‐
204       sage sequence.
205
206       The messages are of the form:
207
208           struct cmsghdr {
209               size_t cmsg_len;    /* Data byte count, including header
210                                      (type is socklen_t in POSIX) */
211               int    cmsg_level;  /* Originating protocol */
212               int    cmsg_type;   /* Protocol-specific type */
213           /* followed by
214               unsigned char cmsg_data[]; */
215           };
216
217       Ancillary data should  be  accessed  only  by  the  macros  defined  in
218       cmsg(3).
219
220       As  an  example,  Linux  uses  this  ancillary  data  mechanism to pass
221       extended errors, IP options, or file descriptors over UNIX domain sock‐
222       ets.
223
224       The  msg_flags  field  in the msghdr is set on return of recvmsg().  It
225       can contain several flags:
226
227       MSG_EOR
228              indicates end-of-record; the data returned  completed  a  record
229              (generally used with sockets of type SOCK_SEQPACKET).
230
231       MSG_TRUNC
232              indicates  that the trailing portion of a datagram was discarded
233              because the datagram was larger than the buffer supplied.
234
235       MSG_CTRUNC
236              indicates that some control data was discarded due  to  lack  of
237              space in the buffer for ancillary data.
238
239       MSG_OOB
240              is  returned  to indicate that expedited or out-of-band data was
241              received.
242
243       MSG_ERRQUEUE
244              indicates that no data was received but an extended  error  from
245              the socket error queue.
246

RETURN VALUE

248       These  calls  return  the  number  of bytes received, or -1 if an error
249       occurred.  In the event of an error,  errno  is  set  to  indicate  the
250       error.
251
252       When a stream socket peer has performed an orderly shutdown, the return
253       value will be 0 (the traditional "end-of-file" return).
254
255       Datagram sockets in  various  domains  (e.g.,  the  UNIX  and  Internet
256       domains)  permit  zero-length  datagrams.   When  such  a  datagram  is
257       received, the return value is 0.
258
259       The value 0 may also be returned if the requested number  of  bytes  to
260       receive from a stream socket was 0.
261

ERRORS

263       These  are  some  standard errors generated by the socket layer.  Addi‐
264       tional errors may be generated and returned from the underlying  proto‐
265       col modules; see their manual pages.
266
267       EAGAIN or EWOULDBLOCK
268              The socket is marked nonblocking and the receive operation would
269              block, or a receive timeout had been set and the timeout expired
270              before  data  was  received.   POSIX.1 allows either error to be
271              returned for this case, and does not require these constants  to
272              have  the same value, so a portable application should check for
273              both possibilities.
274
275       EBADF  The argument sockfd is an invalid file descriptor.
276
277       ECONNREFUSED
278              A remote host refused to allow the network connection (typically
279              because it is not running the requested service).
280
281       EFAULT The  receive  buffer  pointer(s)  point  outside  the  process's
282              address space.
283
284       EINTR  The receive was interrupted by delivery of a signal  before  any
285              data was available; see signal(7).
286
287       EINVAL Invalid argument passed.
288
289       ENOMEM Could not allocate memory for recvmsg().
290
291       ENOTCONN
292              The socket is associated with a connection-oriented protocol and
293              has not been connected (see connect(2) and accept(2)).
294
295       ENOTSOCK
296              The file descriptor sockfd does not refer to a socket.
297

CONFORMING TO

299       POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, 4.4BSD (these interfaces first appeared  in
300       4.2BSD).
301
302       POSIX.1 describes only the MSG_OOB, MSG_PEEK, and MSG_WAITALL flags.
303

NOTES

305       If  a  zero-length datagram is pending, read(2) and recv() with a flags
306       argument of zero provide different  behavior.   In  this  circumstance,
307       read(2) has no effect (the datagram remains pending), while recv() con‐
308       sumes the pending datagram.
309
310       The socklen_t type was invented by POSIX.  See also accept(2).
311
312       According to POSIX.1, the msg_controllen field of the msghdr  structure
313       should be typed as socklen_t, but glibc currently types it as size_t.
314
315       See recvmmsg(2) for information about a Linux-specific system call that
316       can be used to receive multiple datagrams in a single call.
317

EXAMPLES

319       An example of the use of recvfrom() is shown in getaddrinfo(3).
320

SEE ALSO

322       fcntl(2), getsockopt(2), read(2), recvmmsg(2), select(2),  shutdown(2),
323       socket(2),  cmsg(3),  sockatmark(3), ip(7), ipv6(7), socket(7), tcp(7),
324       udp(7), unix(7)
325

COLOPHON

327       This page is part of release 5.07 of the Linux  man-pages  project.   A
328       description  of  the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
329       latest    version    of    this    page,    can     be     found     at
330       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
331
332
333
334Linux                             2020-06-09                           RECV(2)
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