SOCKETPAIR(2)

NAME
socketpair - create a pair of connected sockets

LIBRARY
libc

SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/socket.h>
int
socketpair(int d, int type, int protocol, int *sv);

DESCRIPTION
The socketpair() call creates an unnamed pair of connected sockets in the specified domain d, of the specified type, and using the optionally specified protocol. The descriptors used in referencing the new sockets are returned in sv[0] and sv[1]. The two sockets are indistinguishable.

RETURN VALUES
A 0 is returned if the call succeeds, -1 if it fails.

ERRORS
The call succeeds unless:

[EMFILE]
    Too many descriptors are in use by this process.

[ENFILE]
    The system file table is full.

[EAFNOSUPPORT]
    The specified address family is not supported on this machine.

[EPROTONOSUPPORT]
    The specified protocol is not supported on this machine.

[EOPNOTSUPP]
    The specified protocol does not support creation of socket pairs.

[EFAULT]
    The address sv does not specify a valid part of the process address space.

SEE ALSO
pipe(2), read(2), write(2)

HISTORY
The socketpair() function call appeared in 4.2BSD.

BUGS
This call is currently implemented only for the LOCAL domain. Many operating systems only accept a protocol of PF_UNSPEC, so that should be used instead of PF_LOCAL for maximal portability.