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Fred Drake295da241998-08-10 19:42:37 +00001\section{\module{socket} ---
Fred Drake318c0b11999-04-21 17:29:14 +00002 Low-level networking interface}
Fred Drakeb91e9341998-07-23 17:59:49 +00003
Fred Drake318c0b11999-04-21 17:29:14 +00004\declaremodule{builtin}{socket}
Fred Drakeb91e9341998-07-23 17:59:49 +00005\modulesynopsis{Low-level networking interface.}
6
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +00007
Fred Drakeaf8a0151998-01-14 14:51:31 +00008This module provides access to the BSD \emph{socket} interface.
Fred Drake38e5d272000-04-03 20:13:55 +00009It is available on all modern \UNIX{} systems, Windows, MacOS, BeOS,
10OS/2, and probably additional platforms.
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +000011
12For an introduction to socket programming (in C), see the following
Fred Drake37f15741999-11-10 16:21:37 +000013papers: \citetitle{An Introductory 4.3BSD Interprocess Communication
14Tutorial}, by Stuart Sechrest and \citetitle{An Advanced 4.3BSD
15Interprocess Communication Tutorial}, by Samuel J. Leffler et al,
16both in the \citetitle{\UNIX{} Programmer's Manual, Supplementary Documents 1}
Fred Drake38e5d272000-04-03 20:13:55 +000017(sections PS1:7 and PS1:8). The platform-specific reference material
18for the various socket-related system calls are also a valuable source
19of information on the details of socket semantics. For \UNIX, refer
20to the manual pages; for Windows, see the WinSock (or Winsock 2)
21specification.
Fred Drake3fc291a2001-09-27 04:17:20 +000022For IPv6-ready APIs, readers may want to refer to \rfc{2553} titled
23\citetitle{Basic Socket Interface Extensions for IPv6}.
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +000024
25The Python interface is a straightforward transliteration of the
26\UNIX{} system call and library interface for sockets to Python's
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +000027object-oriented style: the \function{socket()} function returns a
Fred Drake318c0b11999-04-21 17:29:14 +000028\dfn{socket object}\obindex{socket} whose methods implement the
29various socket system calls. Parameter types are somewhat
30higher-level than in the C interface: as with \method{read()} and
31\method{write()} operations on Python files, buffer allocation on
32receive operations is automatic, and buffer length is implicit on send
33operations.
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +000034
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +000035Socket addresses are represented as follows:
36A single string is used for the \constant{AF_UNIX} address family.
37A pair \code{(\var{host}, \var{port})} is used for the
38\constant{AF_INET} address family, where \var{host} is a string
39representing either a hostname in Internet domain notation like
40\code{'daring.cwi.nl'} or an IPv4 address like \code{'100.50.200.5'},
41and \var{port} is an integral port number.
42For \constant{AF_INET6} address family, a four-tuple
43\code{(\var{host}, \var{port}, \var{flowinfo}, \var{scopeid})} is
44used, where \var{flowinfo} and \var{scopeid} represents
45\code{sin6_flowinfo} and \code{sin6_scope_id} member in
46\constant{struct sockaddr_in6} in C.
47For \module{socket} module methods, \var{flowinfo} and \var{scopeid}
48can be omitted just for backward compatibility. Note, however,
49omission of \var{scopeid} can cause problems in manipulating scoped
50IPv6 addresses. Other address families are currently not supported.
51The address format required by a particular socket object is
52automatically selected based on the address family specified when the
53socket object was created.
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +000054
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +000055For IPv4 addresses, two special forms are accepted instead of a host
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +000056address: the empty string represents \constant{INADDR_ANY}, and the string
Fred Drake318c0b11999-04-21 17:29:14 +000057\code{'<broadcast>'} represents \constant{INADDR_BROADCAST}.
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +000058The behavior is not available for IPv6 for backward compatibility,
59therefore, you may want to avoid these if you intend to support IPv6 with
60your Python programs.
61
62If you use a hostname in the \var{host} portion of IPv4/v6 socket
63address, the program may show a nondeterministic behavior, as Python
64uses the first address returned from the DNS resolution. The socket
65address will be resolved differently into an actual IPv4/v6 address,
66depending on the results from DNS resolution and/or the host
67configuration. For deterministic behavior use a numeric address in
68\var{host} portion.
Guido van Rossume4f347e1997-05-09 02:21:51 +000069
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +000070All errors raise exceptions. The normal exceptions for invalid
71argument types and out-of-memory conditions can be raised; errors
Fred Drake318c0b11999-04-21 17:29:14 +000072related to socket or address semantics raise the error
73\exception{socket.error}.
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +000074
Fred Drake318c0b11999-04-21 17:29:14 +000075Non-blocking mode is supported through the
76\method{setblocking()} method.
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +000077
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +000078The module \module{socket} exports the following constants and functions:
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +000079
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +000080
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +000081\begin{excdesc}{error}
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +000082This exception is raised for socket-related errors.
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +000083The accompanying value is either a string telling what went wrong or a
84pair \code{(\var{errno}, \var{string})}
85representing an error returned by a system
Fred Drake318c0b11999-04-21 17:29:14 +000086call, similar to the value accompanying \exception{os.error}.
87See the module \refmodule{errno}\refbimodindex{errno}, which contains
Guido van Rossum8e1e68d1998-02-06 15:18:25 +000088names for the error codes defined by the underlying operating system.
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +000089\end{excdesc}
90
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +000091\begin{excdesc}{herror}
92This exception is raised for address-related errors, i.e. for
Fred Drake87fa3aa2001-12-21 17:45:03 +000093functions that use \var{h_errno} in the C API, including
94\function{gethostbyname_ex()} and \function{gethostbyaddr()}.
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +000095
96The accompanying value is a pair \code{(\var{h_errno}, \var{string})}
97representing an error returned by a library call. \var{string}
98represents the description of \var{h_errno}, as returned by
Fred Drake87fa3aa2001-12-21 17:45:03 +000099the \cfunction{hstrerror()} C function.
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000100\end{excdesc}
101
102\begin{excdesc}{gaierror}
103This exception is raised for address-related errors, for
Fred Drake87fa3aa2001-12-21 17:45:03 +0000104\function{getaddrinfo()} and \function{getnameinfo()}.
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000105The accompanying value is a pair \code{(\var{error}, \var{string})}
106representing an error returned by a library call.
107\var{string} represents the description of \var{error}, as returned
Fred Drake87fa3aa2001-12-21 17:45:03 +0000108by the \cfunction{gai_strerror()} C function.
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000109\end{excdesc}
110
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000111\begin{datadesc}{AF_UNIX}
112\dataline{AF_INET}
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000113\dataline{AF_INET6}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000114These constants represent the address (and protocol) families,
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000115used for the first argument to \function{socket()}. If the
116\constant{AF_UNIX} constant is not defined then this protocol is
117unsupported.
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000118\end{datadesc}
119
120\begin{datadesc}{SOCK_STREAM}
121\dataline{SOCK_DGRAM}
Guido van Rossum781db5d1994-08-05 13:37:36 +0000122\dataline{SOCK_RAW}
123\dataline{SOCK_RDM}
124\dataline{SOCK_SEQPACKET}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000125These constants represent the socket types,
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000126used for the second argument to \function{socket()}.
127(Only \constant{SOCK_STREAM} and
128\constant{SOCK_DGRAM} appear to be generally useful.)
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000129\end{datadesc}
130
Guido van Rossumed2bad81995-02-16 16:29:18 +0000131\begin{datadesc}{SO_*}
132\dataline{SOMAXCONN}
133\dataline{MSG_*}
134\dataline{SOL_*}
135\dataline{IPPROTO_*}
136\dataline{IPPORT_*}
137\dataline{INADDR_*}
138\dataline{IP_*}
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000139\dataline{IPV6_*}
140\dataline{EAI_*}
141\dataline{AI_*}
142\dataline{NI_*}
Fred Drake39960f62001-12-22 19:07:58 +0000143\dataline{TCP_*}
Guido van Rossum6bb1adc1995-03-13 10:03:32 +0000144Many constants of these forms, documented in the \UNIX{} documentation on
Guido van Rossumed2bad81995-02-16 16:29:18 +0000145sockets and/or the IP protocol, are also defined in the socket module.
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000146They are generally used in arguments to the \method{setsockopt()} and
147\method{getsockopt()} methods of socket objects. In most cases, only
Guido van Rossum6bb1adc1995-03-13 10:03:32 +0000148those symbols that are defined in the \UNIX{} header files are defined;
Guido van Rossumed2bad81995-02-16 16:29:18 +0000149for a few symbols, default values are provided.
150\end{datadesc}
151
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000152\begin{funcdesc}{getaddrinfo}{host, port\optional{, family, socktype, proto, flags}}
153
154Resolves the \var{host}/\var{port} argument, into a sequence of
1555-tuples that contain all the necessary argument for the sockets
156manipulation. \var{host} is a domain name, a string representation of
157IPv4/v6 address or \code{None}.
158\var{port} is a string service name (like \code{``http''}), a numeric
159port number or \code{None}.
160
161The rest of the arguments are optional and must be numeric if
162specified. For \var{host} and \var{port}, by passing either an empty
163string or \code{None}, you can pass \code{NULL} to the C API. The
164\function{getaddrinfo()} function returns a list of 5-tuples with
165the following structure:
166
167\code{(\var{family}, \var{socktype}, \var{proto}, \var{canonname}, \var{sockaddr})}.
168
169\var{family}, \var{socktype}, \var{proto} are all integer and are meant to
170be passed to the \function{socket()} function.
171\var{canonname} is a string representing the canonical name of the \var{host}.
172It can be a numeric IPv4/v6 address when \code{AI_CANONNAME} is specified
173for a numeric \var{host}.
174\var{sockaddr} is a tuple describing a socket address, as described above.
175See \code{Lib/httplib.py} and other library files
176for a typical usage of the function.
177\versionadded{2.2}
178\end{funcdesc}
179
Fred Drake5772c862000-08-16 14:21:42 +0000180\begin{funcdesc}{getfqdn}{\optional{name}}
181Return a fully qualified domain name for \var{name}.
182If \var{name} is omitted or empty, it is interpreted as the local
183host. To find the fully qualified name, the hostname returned by
184\function{gethostbyaddr()} is checked, then aliases for the host, if
185available. The first name which includes a period is selected. In
186case no fully qualified domain name is available, the hostname is
187returned.
Fred Drake8b2e8f82000-09-06 02:22:16 +0000188\versionadded{2.0}
Fred Drake5772c862000-08-16 14:21:42 +0000189\end{funcdesc}
190
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000191\begin{funcdesc}{gethostbyname}{hostname}
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000192Translate a host name to IPv4 address format. The IPv4 address is
Fred Drake87fa3aa2001-12-21 17:45:03 +0000193returned as a string, such as \code{'100.50.200.5'}. If the host name
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000194is an IPv4 address itself it is returned unchanged. See
Fred Drake318c0b11999-04-21 17:29:14 +0000195\function{gethostbyname_ex()} for a more complete interface.
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000196\function{gethostbyname()} does not support IPv6 name resolution, and
197\function{getaddrinfo()} should be used instead for IPv4/v6 dual stack support.
Guido van Rossumcdf6af11998-08-07 18:07:36 +0000198\end{funcdesc}
199
200\begin{funcdesc}{gethostbyname_ex}{hostname}
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000201Translate a host name to IPv4 address format, extended interface.
Guido van Rossumcdf6af11998-08-07 18:07:36 +0000202Return a triple \code{(hostname, aliaslist, ipaddrlist)} where
203\code{hostname} is the primary host name responding to the given
204\var{ip_address}, \code{aliaslist} is a (possibly empty) list of
205alternative host names for the same address, and \code{ipaddrlist} is
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000206a list of IPv4 addresses for the same interface on the same
Guido van Rossumcdf6af11998-08-07 18:07:36 +0000207host (often but not always a single address).
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000208\function{gethostbyname_ex()} does not support IPv6 name resolution, and
209\function{getaddrinfo()} should be used instead for IPv4/v6 dual stack support.
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000210\end{funcdesc}
211
Guido van Rossum781db5d1994-08-05 13:37:36 +0000212\begin{funcdesc}{gethostname}{}
Guido van Rossum16d6e711994-08-08 12:30:22 +0000213Return a string containing the hostname of the machine where
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000214the Python interpreter is currently executing.
215If you want to know the current machine's IP address, you may want to use
216\code{gethostbyname(gethostname())}.
217This operation assumes that there is a valid address-to-host mapping for
218the host, and the assumption does not always hold.
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000219Note: \function{gethostname()} doesn't always return the fully qualified
220domain name; use \code{gethostbyaddr(gethostname())}
Guido van Rossumfe27a501997-01-11 17:04:56 +0000221(see below).
Guido van Rossum31cce971995-01-04 19:17:34 +0000222\end{funcdesc}
223
224\begin{funcdesc}{gethostbyaddr}{ip_address}
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000225Return a triple \code{(\var{hostname}, \var{aliaslist},
226\var{ipaddrlist})} where \var{hostname} is the primary host name
227responding to the given \var{ip_address}, \var{aliaslist} is a
228(possibly empty) list of alternative host names for the same address,
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000229and \var{ipaddrlist} is a list of IPv4/v6 addresses for the same interface
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000230on the same host (most likely containing only a single address).
Fred Drake5772c862000-08-16 14:21:42 +0000231To find the fully qualified domain name, use the function
232\function{getfqdn()}.
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000233\function{gethostbyaddr} supports both IPv4 and IPv6.
234\end{funcdesc}
235
236\begin{funcdesc}{getnameinfo}{sockaddr, flags}
237Translate a socket address \var{sockaddr} into a 2-tuple
238\code{(\var{host}, \var{port})}.
239Depending on the settings of \var{flags}, the result can contain a
240fully-qualified domain name or numeric address representation in
241\var{host}. Similarly, \var{port} can contain a string port name or a
242numeric port number.
243\versionadded{2.2}
Guido van Rossum781db5d1994-08-05 13:37:36 +0000244\end{funcdesc}
245
Guido van Rossum62ac99e1996-12-19 16:43:25 +0000246\begin{funcdesc}{getprotobyname}{protocolname}
Fred Drake87fa3aa2001-12-21 17:45:03 +0000247Translate an Internet protocol name (for example, \code{'icmp'}) to a constant
Guido van Rossum62ac99e1996-12-19 16:43:25 +0000248suitable for passing as the (optional) third argument to the
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000249\function{socket()} function. This is usually only needed for sockets
250opened in ``raw'' mode (\constant{SOCK_RAW}); for the normal socket
251modes, the correct protocol is chosen automatically if the protocol is
Guido van Rossum62ac99e1996-12-19 16:43:25 +0000252omitted or zero.
253\end{funcdesc}
254
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000255\begin{funcdesc}{getservbyname}{servicename, protocolname}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000256Translate an Internet service name and protocol name to a port number
257for that service. The protocol name should be \code{'tcp'} or
258\code{'udp'}.
259\end{funcdesc}
260
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000261\begin{funcdesc}{socket}{family, type\optional{, proto}}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000262Create a new socket using the given address family, socket type and
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000263protocol number. The address family should be \constant{AF_INET}, \constant{AF_INET6} or
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000264\constant{AF_UNIX}. The socket type should be \constant{SOCK_STREAM},
265\constant{SOCK_DGRAM} or perhaps one of the other \samp{SOCK_} constants.
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000266The protocol number is usually zero and may be omitted in that case.
267\end{funcdesc}
268
Jeremy Hyltoncb43c082001-10-11 16:17:22 +0000269\begin{funcdesc}{ssl}{sock\optional{, keyfile, certfile}}
Fred Drake9081bb12001-09-25 15:48:11 +0000270Initiate a SSL connection over the socket \var{sock}. \var{keyfile} is
271the name of a PEM formatted file that contains your private
272key. \var{certfile} is a PEM formatted certificate chain file. On
273success, a new \class{SSLObject} is returned.
274
Fred Drake0aa811c2001-10-20 04:24:09 +0000275\warning{This does not do any certificate verification!}
Fred Drake9081bb12001-09-25 15:48:11 +0000276\end{funcdesc}
277
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000278\begin{funcdesc}{fromfd}{fd, family, type\optional{, proto}}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000279Build a socket object from an existing file descriptor (an integer as
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000280returned by a file object's \method{fileno()} method). Address family,
Fred Drake318c0b11999-04-21 17:29:14 +0000281socket type and protocol number are as for the \function{socket()} function
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000282above. The file descriptor should refer to a socket, but this is not
283checked --- subsequent operations on the object may fail if the file
284descriptor is invalid. This function is rarely needed, but can be
285used to get or set socket options on a socket passed to a program as
Fred Drake87fa3aa2001-12-21 17:45:03 +0000286standard input or output (such as a server started by the \UNIX{} inet
Guido van Rossumfc9823b2002-06-07 03:39:21 +0000287daemon). The socket is assumed to be created in blocking mode without
288a timeout.
Fred Drake87fa3aa2001-12-21 17:45:03 +0000289Availability: \UNIX.
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000290\end{funcdesc}
291
Guido van Rossumbda7ca71996-12-02 17:24:10 +0000292\begin{funcdesc}{ntohl}{x}
Fred Drakec5aec051997-12-08 21:25:41 +0000293Convert 32-bit integers from network to host byte order. On machines
294where the host byte order is the same as network byte order, this is a
295no-op; otherwise, it performs a 4-byte swap operation.
296\end{funcdesc}
297
298\begin{funcdesc}{ntohs}{x}
299Convert 16-bit integers from network to host byte order. On machines
300where the host byte order is the same as network byte order, this is a
301no-op; otherwise, it performs a 2-byte swap operation.
302\end{funcdesc}
303
304\begin{funcdesc}{htonl}{x}
305Convert 32-bit integers from host to network byte order. On machines
306where the host byte order is the same as network byte order, this is a
307no-op; otherwise, it performs a 4-byte swap operation.
308\end{funcdesc}
309
310\begin{funcdesc}{htons}{x}
311Convert 16-bit integers from host to network byte order. On machines
312where the host byte order is the same as network byte order, this is a
313no-op; otherwise, it performs a 2-byte swap operation.
Guido van Rossumbda7ca71996-12-02 17:24:10 +0000314\end{funcdesc}
315
Fred Drakee6fb1c41999-09-16 15:50:00 +0000316\begin{funcdesc}{inet_aton}{ip_string}
Fred Drake87fa3aa2001-12-21 17:45:03 +0000317Convert an IPv4 address from dotted-quad string format (for example,
318'123.45.67.89') to 32-bit packed binary format, as a string four
Fred Drakee6fb1c41999-09-16 15:50:00 +0000319characters in length.
320
321Useful when conversing with a program that uses the standard C library
322and needs objects of type \ctype{struct in_addr}, which is the C type
323for the 32-bit packed binary this function returns.
324
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000325If the IPv4 address string passed to this function is invalid,
Fred Drakee6fb1c41999-09-16 15:50:00 +0000326\exception{socket.error} will be raised. Note that exactly what is
327valid depends on the underlying C implementation of
328\cfunction{inet_aton()}.
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000329
Fred Drake39960f62001-12-22 19:07:58 +0000330\function{inet_aton()} does not support IPv6, and
331\function{getnameinfo()} should be used instead for IPv4/v6 dual stack
332support.
Fred Drakee6fb1c41999-09-16 15:50:00 +0000333\end{funcdesc}
334
335\begin{funcdesc}{inet_ntoa}{packed_ip}
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000336Convert a 32-bit packed IPv4 address (a string four characters in
Fred Drakee6fb1c41999-09-16 15:50:00 +0000337length) to its standard dotted-quad string representation
Fred Drake87fa3aa2001-12-21 17:45:03 +0000338(for example, '123.45.67.89').
Fred Drakee6fb1c41999-09-16 15:50:00 +0000339
340Useful when conversing with a program that uses the standard C library
341and needs objects of type \ctype{struct in_addr}, which is the C type
342for the 32-bit packed binary this function takes as an argument.
343
344If the string passed to this function is not exactly 4 bytes in
345length, \exception{socket.error} will be raised.
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000346
Fred Drake39960f62001-12-22 19:07:58 +0000347\function{inet_ntoa()} does not support IPv6, and
348\function{getnameinfo()} should be used instead for IPv4/v6 dual stack
349support.
Fred Drakee6fb1c41999-09-16 15:50:00 +0000350\end{funcdesc}
351
Fred Drake5451d671997-10-13 21:31:02 +0000352\begin{datadesc}{SocketType}
Guido van Rossum2335c5e1997-05-21 14:41:42 +0000353This is a Python type object that represents the socket object type.
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000354It is the same as \code{type(socket(...))}.
Guido van Rossum2335c5e1997-05-21 14:41:42 +0000355\end{datadesc}
356
Fred Drakeaa7524c2000-07-06 18:37:08 +0000357
358\begin{seealso}
359 \seemodule{SocketServer}{Classes that simplify writing network servers.}
360\end{seealso}
361
362
Fred Drakea94f6761999-08-05 13:41:04 +0000363\subsection{Socket Objects \label{socket-objects}}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000364
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000365Socket objects have the following methods. Except for
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000366\method{makefile()} these correspond to \UNIX{} system calls
367applicable to sockets.
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000368
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000369\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{accept}{}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000370Accept a connection.
371The socket must be bound to an address and listening for connections.
372The return value is a pair \code{(\var{conn}, \var{address})}
373where \var{conn} is a \emph{new} socket object usable to send and
374receive data on the connection, and \var{address} is the address bound
375to the socket on the other end of the connection.
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000376\end{methoddesc}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000377
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000378\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{bind}{address}
Guido van Rossuma84ec511994-06-23 12:13:52 +0000379Bind the socket to \var{address}. The socket must not already be bound.
Fred Drake7d686902000-04-04 17:48:30 +0000380(The format of \var{address} depends on the address family --- see
Fred Drake0aa811c2001-10-20 04:24:09 +0000381above.) \note{This method has historically accepted a pair
Fred Drake7d686902000-04-04 17:48:30 +0000382of parameters for \constant{AF_INET} addresses instead of only a
Eric S. Raymond83210262001-01-10 19:34:52 +0000383tuple. This was never intentional and is no longer be available in
Fred Drake0aa811c2001-10-20 04:24:09 +0000384Python 2.0.}
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000385\end{methoddesc}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000386
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000387\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{close}{}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000388Close the socket. All future operations on the socket object will fail.
389The remote end will receive no more data (after queued data is flushed).
390Sockets are automatically closed when they are garbage-collected.
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000391\end{methoddesc}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000392
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000393\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{connect}{address}
Guido van Rossuma84ec511994-06-23 12:13:52 +0000394Connect to a remote socket at \var{address}.
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000395(The format of \var{address} depends on the address family --- see
Fred Drake0aa811c2001-10-20 04:24:09 +0000396above.) \note{This method has historically accepted a pair
Fred Drake7d686902000-04-04 17:48:30 +0000397of parameters for \constant{AF_INET} addresses instead of only a
Eric S. Raymond83210262001-01-10 19:34:52 +0000398tuple. This was never intentional and is no longer available in
Fred Drake0aa811c2001-10-20 04:24:09 +0000399Python 2.0 and later.}
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000400\end{methoddesc}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000401
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000402\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{connect_ex}{address}
Guido van Rossumeefcba61997-12-09 19:47:24 +0000403Like \code{connect(\var{address})}, but return an error indicator
Fred Drakeb0bc7f21999-05-06 22:03:50 +0000404instead of raising an exception for errors returned by the C-level
405\cfunction{connect()} call (other problems, such as ``host not found,''
406can still raise exceptions). The error indicator is \code{0} if the
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000407operation succeeded, otherwise the value of the \cdata{errno}
Fred Drake87fa3aa2001-12-21 17:45:03 +0000408variable. This is useful to support, for example, asynchronous connects.
Fred Drake0aa811c2001-10-20 04:24:09 +0000409\note{This method has historically accepted a pair of
Fred Drake7d686902000-04-04 17:48:30 +0000410parameters for \constant{AF_INET} addresses instead of only a tuple.
Eric S. Raymond83210262001-01-10 19:34:52 +0000411This was never intentional and is no longer be available in Python
Fred Drake0aa811c2001-10-20 04:24:09 +00004122.0 and later.}
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000413\end{methoddesc}
Guido van Rossumf7790c61997-11-18 15:29:20 +0000414
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000415\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{fileno}{}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000416Return the socket's file descriptor (a small integer). This is useful
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000417with \function{select.select()}.
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000418\end{methoddesc}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000419
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000420\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{getpeername}{}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000421Return the remote address to which the socket is connected. This is
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000422useful to find out the port number of a remote IPv4/v6 socket, for instance.
Guido van Rossum86751151995-02-28 17:14:32 +0000423(The format of the address returned depends on the address family ---
Guido van Rossum781db5d1994-08-05 13:37:36 +0000424see above.) On some systems this function is not supported.
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000425\end{methoddesc}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000426
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000427\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{getsockname}{}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000428Return the socket's own address. This is useful to find out the port
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000429number of an IPv4/v6 socket, for instance.
Guido van Rossum86751151995-02-28 17:14:32 +0000430(The format of the address returned depends on the address family ---
Guido van Rossuma84ec511994-06-23 12:13:52 +0000431see above.)
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000432\end{methoddesc}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000433
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000434\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{getsockopt}{level, optname\optional{, buflen}}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000435Return the value of the given socket option (see the \UNIX{} man page
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000436\manpage{getsockopt}{2}). The needed symbolic constants
437(\constant{SO_*} etc.) are defined in this module. If \var{buflen}
Guido van Rossum470be141995-03-17 16:07:09 +0000438is absent, an integer option is assumed and its integer value
Guido van Rossum8df36371995-02-27 17:52:15 +0000439is returned by the function. If \var{buflen} is present, it specifies
440the maximum length of the buffer used to receive the option in, and
Guido van Rossum470be141995-03-17 16:07:09 +0000441this buffer is returned as a string. It is up to the caller to decode
Guido van Rossum8df36371995-02-27 17:52:15 +0000442the contents of the buffer (see the optional built-in module
Fred Drake318c0b11999-04-21 17:29:14 +0000443\refmodule{struct} for a way to decode C structures encoded as strings).
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000444\end{methoddesc}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000445
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000446\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{listen}{backlog}
Guido van Rossum470be141995-03-17 16:07:09 +0000447Listen for connections made to the socket. The \var{backlog} argument
448specifies the maximum number of queued connections and should be at
449least 1; the maximum value is system-dependent (usually 5).
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000450\end{methoddesc}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000451
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000452\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{makefile}{\optional{mode\optional{, bufsize}}}
Guido van Rossum470be141995-03-17 16:07:09 +0000453Return a \dfn{file object} associated with the socket. (File objects
Fred Drakea94f6761999-08-05 13:41:04 +0000454are described in \ref{bltin-file-objects}, ``File Objects.'')
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000455The file object references a \cfunction{dup()}ped version of the
456socket file descriptor, so the file object and socket object may be
Fred Drakea94f6761999-08-05 13:41:04 +0000457closed or garbage-collected independently.
458\index{I/O control!buffering}The optional \var{mode}
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000459and \var{bufsize} arguments are interpreted the same way as by the
Fred Drakeaad8bb52001-10-19 17:22:29 +0000460built-in \function{file()} function; see ``Built-in Functions''
461(section \ref{built-in-funcs}) for more information.
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000462\end{methoddesc}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000463
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000464\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{recv}{bufsize\optional{, flags}}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000465Receive data from the socket. The return value is a string representing
466the data received. The maximum amount of data to be received
467at once is specified by \var{bufsize}. See the \UNIX{} manual page
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000468\manpage{recv}{2} for the meaning of the optional argument
469\var{flags}; it defaults to zero.
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000470\end{methoddesc}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000471
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000472\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{recvfrom}{bufsize\optional{, flags}}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000473Receive data from the socket. The return value is a pair
474\code{(\var{string}, \var{address})} where \var{string} is a string
475representing the data received and \var{address} is the address of the
Guido van Rossum470be141995-03-17 16:07:09 +0000476socket sending the data. The optional \var{flags} argument has the
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000477same meaning as for \method{recv()} above.
Guido van Rossum86751151995-02-28 17:14:32 +0000478(The format of \var{address} depends on the address family --- see above.)
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000479\end{methoddesc}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000480
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000481\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{send}{string\optional{, flags}}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000482Send data to the socket. The socket must be connected to a remote
Guido van Rossum470be141995-03-17 16:07:09 +0000483socket. The optional \var{flags} argument has the same meaning as for
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000484\method{recv()} above. Returns the number of bytes sent.
Fred Drake39368c12001-12-05 05:25:59 +0000485Applications are responsible for checking that all data has been sent;
486if only some of the data was transmitted, the application needs to
487attempt delivery of the remaining data.
488\end{methoddesc}
489
490\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{sendall}{string\optional{, flags}}
491Send data to the socket. The socket must be connected to a remote
492socket. The optional \var{flags} argument has the same meaning as for
493\method{recv()} above. Unlike \method{send()}, this method continues
494to send data from \var{string} until either all data has been sent or
495an error occurs. \code{None} is returned on success. On error, an
496exception is raised, and there is no way to determine how much data,
497if any, was successfully sent.
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000498\end{methoddesc}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000499
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000500\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{sendto}{string\optional{, flags}, address}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000501Send data to the socket. The socket should not be connected to a
502remote socket, since the destination socket is specified by
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000503\var{address}. The optional \var{flags} argument has the same
504meaning as for \method{recv()} above. Return the number of bytes sent.
Guido van Rossum86751151995-02-28 17:14:32 +0000505(The format of \var{address} depends on the address family --- see above.)
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000506\end{methoddesc}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000507
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000508\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{setblocking}{flag}
Guido van Rossum91951481994-09-07 14:39:14 +0000509Set blocking or non-blocking mode of the socket: if \var{flag} is 0,
510the socket is set to non-blocking, else to blocking mode. Initially
511all sockets are in blocking mode. In non-blocking mode, if a
Fred Drake318c0b11999-04-21 17:29:14 +0000512\method{recv()} call doesn't find any data, or if a
513\method{send()} call can't immediately dispose of the data, a
514\exception{error} exception is raised; in blocking mode, the calls
515block until they can proceed.
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000516\end{methoddesc}
Guido van Rossum91951481994-09-07 14:39:14 +0000517
Guido van Rossumbe946bf2002-06-06 21:51:01 +0000518\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{settimeout}{value}
Guido van Rossumfc9823b2002-06-07 03:39:21 +0000519Set a timeout on blocking socket operations. Value can be a
520nonnegative float expressing seconds, or \code{None}. If a float is
521give, subsequent socket operations will raise an \exception{error}
522exception if the timeout period \var{value} has elapsed before the
523operation has completed. Setting a timeout of \code{None} disables
524timeouts on socket operations.
Neal Norwitzbdbd84f2002-06-06 22:24:10 +0000525\versionadded{2.3}
Guido van Rossumbe946bf2002-06-06 21:51:01 +0000526\end{methoddesc}
527
528\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{gettimeout}{}
Fred Drake6c6d6622002-06-06 21:57:48 +0000529Returns the timeout in floating seconds associated with socket
Guido van Rossumfc9823b2002-06-07 03:39:21 +0000530operations, or \code{None} if no timeout is set.
Neal Norwitzbdbd84f2002-06-06 22:24:10 +0000531\versionadded{2.3}
Guido van Rossumbe946bf2002-06-06 21:51:01 +0000532\end{methoddesc}
533
Guido van Rossumfc9823b2002-06-07 03:39:21 +0000534Some notes on the interaction between socket blocking and timeouts: A
535socket object can be in one of three modes: blocking, non-blocking, or
536timout. Sockets are always created in blocking mode. In blocking
537mode, operations block until complete. In non-blocking mode,
538operations fail (with an error that is unfortunately system-dependent)
539if they cannot be completed immediately. In timeout mode, operations
540fail if they cannot be completed within the timeout specified for the
541socket.
542
543Calling \method{settimeout()} cancels non-blocking mode as set by
544\method{setblocking()}; calling \method{setblocking()} cancels a
545previously set timeout. Setting the timeout to zero acts similarly
546but is implemented different than setting the socket in non-blocking
547mode (this could be considered a bug and may even be fixed).
Guido van Rossumbe946bf2002-06-06 21:51:01 +0000548
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000549\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{setsockopt}{level, optname, value}
Fred Drake9a748aa2000-06-30 04:21:41 +0000550Set the value of the given socket option (see the \UNIX{} manual page
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000551\manpage{setsockopt}{2}). The needed symbolic constants are defined in
552the \module{socket} module (\code{SO_*} etc.). The value can be an
Guido van Rossum8df36371995-02-27 17:52:15 +0000553integer or a string representing a buffer. In the latter case it is
554up to the caller to ensure that the string contains the proper bits
555(see the optional built-in module
Fred Drake318c0b11999-04-21 17:29:14 +0000556\refmodule{struct}\refbimodindex{struct} for a way to encode C
557structures as strings).
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000558\end{methoddesc}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000559
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000560\begin{methoddesc}[socket]{shutdown}{how}
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000561Shut down one or both halves of the connection. If \var{how} is
562\code{0}, further receives are disallowed. If \var{how} is \code{1},
563further sends are disallowed. If \var{how} is \code{2}, further sends
564and receives are disallowed.
Fred Drake3f1c4721998-04-03 07:04:45 +0000565\end{methoddesc}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000566
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000567Note that there are no methods \method{read()} or \method{write()};
568use \method{recv()} and \method{send()} without \var{flags} argument
569instead.
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000570
Fred Drakeaa7524c2000-07-06 18:37:08 +0000571
Fred Drake9081bb12001-09-25 15:48:11 +0000572\subsection{SSL Objects \label{ssl-objects}}
573
574SSL objects have the following methods.
575
576\begin{methoddesc}{write}{s}
577Writes the string \var{s} to the on the object's SSL connection.
578The return value is the number of bytes written.
579\end{methoddesc}
580
581\begin{methoddesc}{read}{\optional{n}}
582If \var{n} is provided, read \var{n} bytes from the SSL connection, otherwise
583read until EOF. The return value is a string of the bytes read.
584\end{methoddesc}
585
Fred Drakeaa7524c2000-07-06 18:37:08 +0000586\subsection{Example \label{socket-example}}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000587
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000588Here are four minimal example programs using the TCP/IP protocol:\ a
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000589server that echoes all data that it receives back (servicing only one
590client), and a client using it. Note that a server must perform the
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000591sequence \function{socket()}, \method{bind()}, \method{listen()},
592\method{accept()} (possibly repeating the \method{accept()} to service
593more than one client), while a client only needs the sequence
594\function{socket()}, \method{connect()}. Also note that the server
595does not \method{send()}/\method{recv()} on the
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000596socket it is listening on but on the new socket returned by
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000597\method{accept()}.
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000598
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000599The first two examples support IPv4 only.
600
Fred Drake19479911998-02-13 06:58:54 +0000601\begin{verbatim}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000602# Echo server program
Fred Drakeef52f602000-10-10 20:36:29 +0000603import socket
604
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000605HOST = '' # Symbolic name meaning the local host
Fred Drakeef52f602000-10-10 20:36:29 +0000606PORT = 50007 # Arbitrary non-privileged port
607s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
Fred Drake3d69c0e2000-05-03 19:40:32 +0000608s.bind((HOST, PORT))
Guido van Rossum5da57551994-03-02 10:52:16 +0000609s.listen(1)
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000610conn, addr = s.accept()
611print 'Connected by', addr
612while 1:
613 data = conn.recv(1024)
614 if not data: break
615 conn.send(data)
616conn.close()
Fred Drake19479911998-02-13 06:58:54 +0000617\end{verbatim}
Fred Draked883ca11998-03-10 05:20:33 +0000618
Fred Drake19479911998-02-13 06:58:54 +0000619\begin{verbatim}
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000620# Echo client program
Fred Drakeef52f602000-10-10 20:36:29 +0000621import socket
622
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000623HOST = 'daring.cwi.nl' # The remote host
624PORT = 50007 # The same port as used by the server
Fred Drakeef52f602000-10-10 20:36:29 +0000625s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
Fred Drake3d69c0e2000-05-03 19:40:32 +0000626s.connect((HOST, PORT))
Guido van Rossum5fdeeea1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000627s.send('Hello, world')
628data = s.recv(1024)
629s.close()
630print 'Received', `data`
Fred Drake19479911998-02-13 06:58:54 +0000631\end{verbatim}
Martin v. Löwisc9908c42001-08-04 22:22:45 +0000632
633The next two examples are identical to the above two, but support both
634IPv4 and IPv6.
635The server side will listen to the first address family available
636(it should listen to both instead).
637On most of IPv6-ready systems, IPv6 will take precedence
638and the server may not accept IPv4 traffic.
639The client side will try to connect to the all addresses returned as a result
640of the name resolution, and sends traffic to the first one connected
641successfully.
642
643\begin{verbatim}
644# Echo server program
645import socket
646import sys
647
648HOST = '' # Symbolic name meaning the local host
649PORT = 50007 # Arbitrary non-privileged port
650s = None
651for res in socket.getaddrinfo(HOST, PORT, socket.AF_UNSPEC, socket.SOCK_STREAM, 0, socket.AI_PASSIVE):
652 af, socktype, proto, canonname, sa = res
653 try:
654 s = socket.socket(af, socktype, proto)
655 except socket.error, msg:
656 s = None
657 continue
658 try:
659 s.bind(sa)
660 s.listen(1)
661 except socket.error, msg:
662 s.close()
663 s = None
664 continue
665 break
666if s is None:
667 print 'could not open socket'
668 sys.exit(1)
669conn, addr = s.accept()
670print 'Connected by', addr
671while 1:
672 data = conn.recv(1024)
673 if not data: break
674 conn.send(data)
675conn.close()
676\end{verbatim}
677
678\begin{verbatim}
679# Echo client program
680import socket
681import sys
682
683HOST = 'daring.cwi.nl' # The remote host
684PORT = 50007 # The same port as used by the server
685s = None
686for res in socket.getaddrinfo(HOST, PORT, socket.AF_UNSPEC, socket.SOCK_STREAM):
687 af, socktype, proto, canonname, sa = res
688 try:
689 s = socket.socket(af, socktype, proto)
690 except socket.error, msg:
691 s = None
692 continue
693 try:
694 s.connect(sa)
695 except socket.error, msg:
696 s.close()
697 s = None
698 continue
699 break
700if s is None:
701 print 'could not open socket'
702 sys.exit(1)
703s.send('Hello, world')
704data = s.recv(1024)
705s.close()
706print 'Received', `data`
707\end{verbatim}