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SOCKET(2) System Calls Manual SOCKET(2) NAME socket -- create an endpoint for communication LIBRARY Standard C Library (libc, -lc) SYNOPSIS #include <sys/socket.h> int socket(int domain, int type, int protocol); DESCRIPTION The socket() system call creates an endpoint for communication and re- turns a descriptor. The domain argument specifies a communications domain within which com- munication will take place; this selects the protocol family which should be used. These families are defined in the include file <sys/socket.h>. The currently understood formats are: PF_LOCAL Host-internal protocols (alias for PF_UNIX), PF_UNIX Host-internal protocols, PF_INET Internet version 4 protocols, PF_INET6 Internet version 6 protocols, PF_DIVERT Firewall packet diversion/re-injection, PF_ROUTE Internal routing protocol, PF_KEY Internal key-management function, PF_NETGRAPH Netgraph sockets, PF_NETLINK Netlink protocols, PF_BLUETOOTH Bluetooth protocols, PF_INET_SDP OFED socket direct protocol (IPv4), AF_HYPERV HyperV sockets Each protocol family is connected to an address family, which has the same name except that the prefix is "AF_" in place of "PF_". Other protocol families may be also defined, beginning with "PF_", with cor- responding address families. The socket has the indicated type, which specifies the semantics of communication. Currently defined types are: SOCK_STREAM Stream socket, SOCK_DGRAM Datagram socket, SOCK_RAW Raw-protocol interface, SOCK_SEQPACKET Sequenced packet stream Additionally, the following flags are allowed in the type argument: SOCK_CLOEXEC Set close-on-exec on the new descriptor, SOCK_CLOFORK Set close-on-fork on the new descriptor, SOCK_NONBLOCK Set non-blocking mode on the new socket The protocol argument specifies a particular protocol to be used with the socket. Normally only a single protocol exists to support a par- ticular socket type within a given protocol family. However, it is possible that many protocols may exist, in which case a particular pro- tocol must be specified in this manner. The protocol number to use is particular to the "communication domain" in which communication is to take place; see protocols(5). The protocol argument may be set to zero (0) to request the default implementation of a socket type for the pro- tocol, if any. STREAM SOCKET TYPE The SOCK_STREAM socket type provides reliable, sequenced, full-duplex octet streams between the socket and a peer to which the socket is con- nected. A socket of type SOCK_STREAM needs to be in a connected state before any data can be sent or received. A connection to another socket is created with a connect(2) system call. (Some protocol fami- lies, such as the Internet family, support the notion of an "implied connect", which permits data to be sent piggybacked onto a connect op- eration by using the sendto(2) system call.) Once connected, data may be sent using send(2), sendto(2), sendmsg(2) and write(2) system calls. Data may be received using recv(2), recvfrom(2), recvmsg(2), and read(2) system calls. Record boundaries are not maintained; data sent on a stream socket using output operations of one size can be received using input operations of smaller or larger sizes without loss of data. Data may be buffered; successful return from an output function does not imply that the data has been delivered to the peer or even trans- mitted from the local system. For certain protocols out-of-band data may also be transmitted as described in send(2) and received as de- scribed in recv(2). If data cannot be successfully transmitted within a given time then the connection is considered broken, and subsequent operations shall fail with a protocol specific error code. A SIGPIPE signal is raised if a thread attempts to send data on a broken stream (one that is no longer connected). The signal can be suppressed by the MSG_NOSIGNAL flag with distinct send(2), sendto(2), and sendmsg(2) system calls or by the SO_NOSIGPIPE socket option set on the socket with setsockopt(2). The SOCK_STREAM socket is supported by the following protocol families: PF_INET, PF_INET6, PF_UNIX, PF_BLUETOOTH, PF_HYPERV, and PF_INET_SDP. Out-of-band data transmission mechanism is supported for stream sockets of PF_INET and PF_INET6 protocol families. DATAGRAM SOCKET TYPE The SOCK_DGRAM socket type supports connectionless data transfer which is not necessarily acknowledged or reliable. Datagrams can be sent to the address specified (possibly multicast or broadcast) in each output operation, and incoming datagrams can be received from multiple sources. The source address of each datagram is available when receiv- ing the datagram with recvfrom(2) or recvmsg(2). An application can also pre-specify a peer address with sendto(2) or sendmsg(2), in which case calls to output functions that do not specify a peer address shall send to the pre-specified peer. If a peer has been specified, only datagrams from that peer shall be received. A datagram shall be sent in a single output operation, and needs to be received in a single in- put operation. The maximum size of a datagram is protocol-specific. Output datagrams may be buffered within the system; thus, a successful return from an output function does not guarantee that a datagram is actually sent or received. The SOCK_DGRAM socket is supported by the following protocol families: PF_INET, PF_INET6, PF_UNIX, PF_NETGRAPH, and PF_NETLINK. SEQUENCED PACKET SOCKET TYPE The SOCK_SEQPACKET socket type is similar to the SOCK_STREAM type, and is also connection-oriented. The only difference between these types is that record boundaries are maintained using the SOCK_SEQPACKET type. A record can be sent using one or more output operations and received using one or more input operations, but a single operation never trans- fers parts of more than one record. Record boundaries are set by the sender with the MSG_EOR flag of send(2) or sendmsg(2) functions. There is no possibility to set a record boundary with write(2). Record boundaries are visible to the receiver via the MSG_EOR flag in the re- ceived message flags returned by the recvmsg(2) function. It is proto- col-specific whether a maximum record size is imposed. The SOCK_SEQPACKET socket is supported by the following protocol fami- lies: PF_INET, PF_INET6, and PF_UNIX. RAW SOCKET TYPE The SOCK_RAW socket type provides access to internal network protocols and interfaces. It is a datagram socket in its nature, thus has the same semantics of read and write operations. The SOCK_RAW type is available only to the super-user and is described in ip(4) and ip6(4). NON-BLOCKING MODE A socket can be created in non-blocking mode with the help of SOCK_NONBLOCK flag. Alternatively, the non-blocking mode on a socket can be turned on and off with the help of the O_NONBLOCK flag of the fcntl(2) system call. When a non-blocking socket has not enough data in its receive buffer to fulfill the application supplied buffer, then data receiving system calls like recv(2), recvfrom(2), recvmsg(2) and read(2) will not block waiting for the data but immediately return. Return value will indi- cate amount of bytes read into the supplied buffer. The errno will be set to EAGAIN (has same value as EWOULDBLOCK). If application tries to send more data on a non-blocking socket than the socket send buffer can accomodate with send(2), sendto(2), sendmsg(2) or write(2) system calls partial data will be sent. Return value will indicate amount of bytes sent. The errno will be set to EAGAIN. Note that sockets of SOCK_DGRAM type are unreliable, thus for these sockets sending operations will never fail with EAGAIN in non- blocking mode neither will block in blocking mode. OTHER OPERATIONS ON SOCKETS Since socket descriptors are file descriptors, many generic file opera- tions performed by fcntl(2), apply. Socket descriptors can be used with all event engines, such as kevent(2), select(2) and poll(2). An fcntl(2) system call can be used to specify a process group to re- ceive a SIGURG signal when the out-of-band data arrives. It may also enable non-blocking I/O and asynchronous notification of I/O events via SIGIO. The operation of sockets is controlled by socket level options. These options are defined in the file <sys/socket.h>. The setsockopt(2) and getsockopt(2) system calls are used to set and get options, respec- tively. Connection associated with a socket can be terminated by close(2) sys- tem call. One direction of communication can be disabled with shutdown(2). RETURN VALUES A -1 is returned if an error occurs, otherwise the return value is a descriptor referencing the socket. ERRORS The socket() system call fails if: [EACCES] Permission to create a socket of the specified type and/or protocol is denied. [EAFNOSUPPORT] The address family (domain) is not supported or the specified domain is not supported by this protocol family. [EMFILE] The per-process descriptor table is full. [ENFILE] The system file table is full. [ENOBUFS] Insufficient buffer space is available. The socket cannot be created until sufficient resources are freed. [EPERM] User has insufficient privileges to carry out the requested operation. [EPROTONOSUPPORT] The protocol type or the specified protocol is not supported within this domain. [EPROTOTYPE] The socket type is not supported by the protocol. SEE ALSO accept(2), bind(2), close(2), connect(2), fcntl(2), getpeername(2), getsockname(2), getsockopt(2), ioctl(2), kevent(2), listen(2), poll(2), read(2), recv(2), select(2), send(2), sendmsg(2), sendto(2), signal(3), shutdown(2), socketpair(2), write(2), CMSG_DATA(3), getprotoent(3), divert(4), ip(4), ip6(4), netgraph(4), protocols(5) "An Introductory 4.3 BSD Interprocess Communication Tutorial", PS1, 7. "BSD Interprocess Communication Tutorial", PS1, 8. STANDARDS The socket() function conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 ("POSIX.1"). The POSIX standard specifies only the AF_INET, AF_INET6, and AF_UNIX constants for address families, and requires the use of AF_* constants for the domain argument of socket(). The SOCK_CLOEXEC and SOCK_CLOFORK flags are expected to conform to . POSIX standard. The SOCK_RDM type, the PF_* constants, and other address families are FreeBSD extensions. HISTORY The socket() system call appeared in 4.2BSD. The SOCK_CLOFORK flag appeared in FreeBSD 15.0. FreeBSD 15.0 September 28, 2025 SOCKET(2)
NAME | LIBRARY | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | STREAM SOCKET TYPE | DATAGRAM SOCKET TYPE | SEQUENCED PACKET SOCKET TYPE | RAW SOCKET TYPE | NON-BLOCKING MODE | OTHER OPERATIONS ON SOCKETS | RETURN VALUES | ERRORS | SEE ALSO | STANDARDS | HISTORY
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