luasocket/doc/tcp.html
2005-11-20 08:56:19 +00:00

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<meta name="description" content="LuaSocket: The TCP/IP support">
<meta name="keywords" content="Lua, LuaSocket, Socket, TCP, Library, Network, Support">
<title>LuaSocket: TCP/IP support</title>
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<tr><td align=center valign=top>Network support for the Lua language
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<!-- tcp ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -->
<h2 id=tcp>TCP</h2>
<!-- socket.tcp +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -->
<p class=name id=socket.tcp>
socket.<b>tcp()</b>
</p>
<p class=description>
Creates and returns a TCP master object. A master object can
be transformed into a server object with the method
<a href=#listen><tt>listen</tt></a> (after a call to <a
href=#bind><tt>bind</tt></a>) or into a client object with
the method <a href=#connect><tt>connect</tt></a>. The only other
method supported by a master object is the
<a href=#close><tt>close</tt></a> method.</p>
<p class=return>
In case of success, a new master object is returned. In case of error,
<b><tt>nil</tt></b> is returned, followed by an error message.
</p>
<!-- accept +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -->
<p class=name id=accept>
server:<b>accept()</b>
</p>
<p class=description>
Waits for a remote connection on the server
object and returns a client object representing that connection.
</p>
<p class=return>
If a connection is successfully initiated, a client object is returned.
If a timeout condition is met, the method returns <b><tt>nil</tt></b>
followed by the error string '<tt>timeout</tt>'. Other errors are
reported by <b><tt>nil</tt></b> followed by a message describing the error.
</p>
<p class=note>
Note: calling <a href=socket.html#select><tt>socket.select</tt></a>
with a server object in
the <tt>recvt</tt> parameter before a call to <tt>accept</tt> does
<em>not</em> guarantee <tt>accept</tt> will return immediately. Use the <a
href=#settimeout><tt>settimeout</tt></a> method or <tt>accept</tt>
might block until <em>another</em> client shows up.
</p>
<!-- bind +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -->
<p class=name id=bind>
master:<b>bind(</b>address, port<b>)</b>
</p>
<p class=description>
Binds a master object to <tt>address</tt> and <tt>port</tt> on the
local host.
<p class=parameters>
<tt>Address</tt> can be an IP address or a host name.
<tt>Port</tt> must be an integer number in the range [0..64K).
If <tt>address</tt>
is '<tt>*</tt>', the system binds to all local interfaces
using the <tt>INADDR_ANY</tt> constant. If <tt>port</tt> is 0, the system automatically
chooses an ephemeral port.
</p>
<p class=return>
In case of success, the method returns 1. In case of error, the
method returns <b><tt>nil</tt></b> followed by an error message.
</p>
<p class=note>
Note: The function <a href=socket.html#bind><tt>socket.bind</tt></a>
is available and is a shortcut for the creation of server sockets.
</p>
<!-- close ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -->
<p class=name id=close>
master:<b>close()</b><br>
client:<b>close()</b><br>
server:<b>close()</b>
</p>
<p class=description>
Closes a TCP object. The internal socket used by the object is closed
and the local address to which the object was
bound is made available to other applications. No further operations
(except for further calls to the <tt>close</tt> method) are allowed on
a closed socket.
</p>
<p class=note>
Note: It is important to close all used sockets once they are not
needed, since, in many systems, each socket uses a file descriptor,
which are limited system resources. Garbage-collected objects are
automatically closed before destruction, though.
</p>
<!-- connect ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -->
<p class=name id=connect>
master:<b>connect(</b>address, port<b>)</b>
</p>
<p class=description>
Attempts to connect a master object to a remote host, transforming it into a
client object.
Client objects support methods
<a href=#send><tt>send</tt></a>,
<a href=#receive><tt>receive</tt></a>,
<a href=#getsockname><tt>getsockname</tt></a>,
<a href=#getpeername><tt>getpeername</tt></a>,
<a href=#settimeout><tt>settimeout</tt></a>,
and <a href=#close><tt>close</tt></a>.
</p>
<p class=parameters>
<tt>Address</tt> can be an IP address or a host name.
<tt>Port</tt> must be an integer number in the range [1..64K).
</p>
<p class=return>
In case of error, the method returns <b><tt>nil</tt></b> followed by a string
describing the error. In case of success, the method returns 1.
</p>
<p class=note>
Note: The function <a href=socket.html#connect><tt>socket.connect</tt></a>
is available and is a shortcut for the creation of client sockets.
</p>
<p class=note>
Note: Starting with LuaSocket 2.0,
the <a href=#settimeout><tt>settimeout</tt></a>
method affects the behavior of <tt>connect</tt>, causing it to return
with an error in case of a timeout. If that happens, you can still call <a
href=socket.html#select><tt>socket.select</tt></a> with the socket in the
<tt>sendt</tt> table. The socket will be writable when the connection is
stablished.
</p>
<!-- getpeername ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -->
<p class=name id=getpeername>
client:<b>getpeername()</b>
</p>
<p class=description>
Returns information about the remote side of a connected client object.
</p>
<p class=return>
Returns a string with the IP address of the peer, followed by the
port number that peer is using for the connection.
In case of error, the method returns <b><tt>nil</tt></b>.
</p>
<p class=note>
Note: It makes no sense to call this method on server objects.
</p>
<!-- getsockname ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -->
<p class=name id=getsockname>
master:<b>getsockname()</b><br>
client:<b>getsockname()</b><br>
server:<b>getsockname()</b>
</p>
<p class=description>
Returns the local address information associated to the object.
</p>
<p class=return>
The method returns a string with local IP address and a number with
the port. In case of error, the method returns <b><tt>nil</tt></b>.
</p>
<!-- getstats +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -->
<p class=name id=getstats>
master:<b>getstats()</b><br>
client:<b>getstats()</b><br>
server:<b>getstats()</b><br>
</p>
<p class=description>
Returns accounting information on the socket, useful for throttling
of bandwidth.
</p>
<p class=return>
The method returns the number of bytes received, the number of bytes sent,
and the age of the socket object in seconds.
</p>
<!-- listen ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -->
<p class=name id=listen>
master:<b>listen(</b>backlog<b>)</b>
</p>
<p class=description>
Specifies the socket is willing to receive connections, transforming the
object into a server object. Server objects support the
<a href=#accept><tt>accept</tt></a>,
<a href=#getsockname><tt>getsockname</tt></a>,
<a href=#setoption><tt>setoption</tt></a>,
<a href=#settimeout><tt>settimeout</tt></a>,
and <a href=#close><tt>close</tt></a> methods.
</p>
<p class=parameters>
The parameter <tt>backlog</tt> specifies the number of client
connections that can
be queued waiting for service. If the queue is full and another client
attempts connection, the connection is refused.
</p>
<p class=return>
In case of success, the method returns 1. In case of error, the
method returns <b><tt>nil</tt></b> followed by an error message.
</p>
<!-- receive ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -->
<p class=name id=receive>
client:<b>receive(</b>[pattern [, prefix]]<b>)</b>
</p>
<p class=description>
Reads data from a client object, according to the specified <em>read
pattern</em>. Patterns follow the Lua file I/O format, and the difference in performance between all patterns is negligible.
</p>
<p class=parameters>
<tt>Pattern</tt> can be any of the following:
</p>
<ul>
<li> '<tt>*a</tt>': reads from the socket until the connection is
closed. No end-of-line translation is performed;
<li> '<tt>*l</tt>': reads a line of text from the socket. The line is
terminated by a LF character (ASCII&nbsp;10), optionally preceded by a
CR character (ASCII&nbsp;13). The CR and LF characters are not included in
the returned line. This is the default pattern;
<li> <tt>number</tt>: causes the method to read a specified <tt>number</tt>
of bytes from the socket.
</ul>
<p class=parameters>
<tt>Prefix</tt> is an optional string to be concatenated to the beginning
of any received data before return.
</p>
<p class=return>
If successful, the method returns the received pattern. In case of error,
the method returns <tt><b>nil</b></tt> followed by an error message which
can be the string '<tt>closed</tt>' in case the connection was
closed before the transmission was completed or the string
'<tt>timeout</tt>' in case there was a timeout during the operation.
Also, after the error message, the function returns the partial result of
the transmission.
</p>
<p class=note>
<b>Important note</b>: This function was changed <em>severely</em>. It used
to support multiple patterns (but I have never seen this feature used) and
now it doesn't anymore. Partial results used to be returned in the same
way as successful results. This last feature violated the idea that all
functions should return <tt><b>nil</b></tt> on error. Thus it was changed
too.
</p>
<!-- send +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -->
<p class=name id=send>
client:<b>send(</b>data [, i [, j]]<b>)</b>
</p>
<p class=description>
Sends <tt>data</tt> through client object.
</p>
<p class=parameters>
<tt>Data</tt> is the string to be sent. The optional arguments
<tt>i</tt> and <tt>j</tt> work exactly like the standard
<tt>string.sub</tt> Lua function to allow the selection of a
substring to be sent.
</p>
<p class=return>
If successful, the method returns the number of bytes sent.
In case of error, the method returns
<b><tt>nil</tt></b>, followed by an error message, followed by the
index of the first character within <tt>[i, j]</tt> that has not been sent yet
(you might want to try again from then on). The error message can be '<tt>closed</tt>' in case
the connection was closed before the transmission was completed or the
string '<tt>timeout</tt>' in case there was a timeout during the
operation.
</p>
<p class=note>
<b>Important note</b>:
The return values for the <tt>send</tt> method have been changed in
LuaSocket 2.0 alpha <b>and again</b> in the beta (sorry)!
In previous versions, the method returned only the
error message. Since returning <b><tt>nil</tt></b> in case of success was
nonsense, in alpha the first return value became the number of bytes sent.
Alas, it wasn't returning <tt><b>nil</b></tt> in case of
error. So it was changed again in beta.
</p>
<p class=note>
<b>Also important</b>:
In order to better support non-blocking I/O and to discourage
bad practice, the <tt>send</tt> method now only sends one string
per call. The other optional arguments allow the user to select
a substring to be sent in a much more efficient way than
using <tt>string.sub</tt>.
</p>
<p class=note>
Note: Output is <em>not</em> buffered. For small strings,
it is always better to concatenate them in Lua
(with the '<tt>..</tt>' operator) and send the result in one call
instead of calling the method several times.
</p>
<!-- setoption ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -->
<p class=name id=setoption>
client:<b>setoption(</b>option [, value]<b>)</b><br>
server:<b>setoption(</b>option [, value]<b>)</b>
</p>
<p class=description>
Sets options for the TCP object. Options are only needed by low-level or
time-critical applications. You should only modify an option if you
are sure you need it.
</p>
<p class=parameters>
<tt>Option</tt> is a string with the option name, and <tt>value</tt>
depends on the option being set:
<ul>
<li> '<tt>keepalive</tt>': Setting this option to <tt>true</tt> enables
the periodic transmission of messages on a connected socket. Should the
connected party fail to respond to these messages, the connection is
considered broken and processes using the socket are notified;
<li> '<tt>linger</tt>': Controls the action taken when unsent data are
queued on a socket and a close is performed. The value is a table with a
boolean entry '<tt>on</tt>' and a numeric entry for the time interval
'<tt>timeout</tt>' in seconds. If the '<tt>on</tt>' field is set to
<tt>true</tt>, the system will block the process on the close attempt until
it is able to transmit the data or until '<tt>timeout</tt>' has passed. If
'<tt>on</tt>' is <tt>false</tt> and a close is issued, the system will
process the close in a manner that allows the process to continue as
quickly as possible. I do not advise you to set this to anything other than
zero;
<li> '<tt>reuseaddr</tt>': Setting this option indicates that the rules
used in validating addresses supplied in a call to
<a href=#bind><tt>bind</tt></a> should allow reuse of local addresses;
<li> '<tt>tcp-nodelay</tt>': Setting this option to <tt>true</tt>
disables the Nagle's algorithm for the connection.
</ul>
<p class=return>
The method returns 1 in case of success, or <b><tt>nil</tt></b> otherwise.
</p>
<p class=note>
Note: The descriptions above come from the man pages.
</p>
<!-- setstats +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -->
<p class=name id=setstats>
master:<b>setstats(</b>received, sent, age<b>)</b><br>
client:<b>setstats(</b>received, sent, age<b>)</b><br>
server:<b>setstats(</b>received, sent, age<b>)</b><br>
</p>
<p class=description>
Resets accounting information on the socket, useful for throttling
of bandwidth.
</p>
<p class=parameters>
<tt>Received</tt> is a number with the new number of bytes received.
<tt>Sent</tt> is a number with the new number of bytes sent.
<tt>Age</tt> is the new age in seconds.
</p>
<p class=return>
The method returns 1 in case of success and <tt><b>nil</b></tt> otherwise.
</p>
<!-- settimeout +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -->
<p class=name id=settimeout>
master:<b>settimeout(</b>value [, mode]<b>)</b><br>
client:<b>settimeout(</b>value [, mode]<b>)</b><br>
server:<b>settimeout(</b>value [, mode]<b>)</b>
</p>
<p class=description>
Changes the timeout values for the object. By default,
all I/O operations are blocking. That is, any call to the methods
<a href=#send><tt>send</tt></a>,
<a href=#receive><tt>receive</tt></a>, and
<a href=#accept><tt>accept</tt></a>
will block indefinitely, until the operation completes. The
<tt>settimeout</tt> method defines a limit on the amount of time the
I/O methods can block. When a timeout is set and the specified amount of
time has elapsed, the affected methods give up and fail with an error code.
</p>
<p class=parameters>
The amount of time to wait is specified as the
<tt>value</tt> parameter, in seconds. There are two timeout modes and
both can be used together for fine tuning:
</p>
<ul>
<li> '<tt>b</tt>': <em>block</em> timeout. Specifies the upper limit on
the amount of time LuaSocket can be blocked by the operating system
while waiting for completion of any single I/O operation. This is the
default mode;</li>
<li> '<tt>t</tt>': <em>total</em> timeout. Specifies the upper limit on
the amount of time LuaSocket can block a Lua script before returning from
a call.</li>
</ul>
<p class=parameters>
The <b><tt>nil</tt></b> timeout <tt>value</tt> allows operations to block
indefinitely. Negative timeout values have the same effect.
</p>
<p class=note>
Note: although timeout values have millisecond precision in LuaSocket,
large blocks can cause I/O functions not to respect timeout values due
to the time the library takes to transfer blocks to and from the OS
and to and from the Lua interpreter. Also, function that accept host names
and perform automatic name resolution might be blocked by the resolver for
longer than the specified timeout value.
</p>
<p class=note>
Note: The old <tt>timeout</tt> method is deprecated. The name has been
changed for sake of uniformity, since all other method names already
contained verbs making their imperative nature obvious.
</p>
<!-- shutdown +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -->
<p class=name id=shutdown>
client:<b>shutdown(</b>mode<b>)</b><br>
</p>
<p class=description>
Shuts down part of a full-duplex connection.
</p>
<p class=parameters>
Mode tells which way of the connection should be shut down and can
take the value:
<ul>
<li>"<tt>both</tt>": disallow further sends and receives on the object.
This is the default mode;
<li>"<tt>send</tt>": disallow further sends on the object;
<li>"<tt>receive</tt>": disallow further receives on the object.
</ul>
<p class=return>
This function returns 1.
</p>
<!-- footer +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -->
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<center>
<p class=bar>
<a href="home.html">home</a> &middot;
<a href="home.html#down">download</a> &middot;
<a href="installation.html">installation</a> &middot;
<a href="introduction.html">introduction</a> &middot;
<a href="reference.html">reference</a>
</p>
<p>
<small>
Last modified by Diego Nehab on <br>
Sun Nov 28 03:19:00 EST 2004
</small>
</p>
</center>
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