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sendmmsg(2)                   System Calls Manual                   sendmmsg(2)

NAME
       sendmmsg - send multiple messages on a socket

LIBRARY
       Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
       #define _GNU_SOURCE         /* See feature_test_macros(7) */
       #include <sys/socket.h>

       int sendmmsg(int sockfd, struct mmsghdr *msgvec, unsigned int vlen,
                    int flags);

DESCRIPTION
       The sendmmsg() system call is an extension of sendmsg(2) that allows the
       caller  to  transmit multiple messages on a socket using a single system
       call.  (This has performance benefits for some applications.)

       The sockfd argument is the file descriptor of the socket on  which  data
       is to be transmitted.

       The msgvec argument is a pointer to an array of mmsghdr structures.  The
       size of this array is specified in vlen.

       The mmsghdr structure is defined in <sys/socket.h> as:

           struct mmsghdr {
               struct msghdr msg_hdr;  /* Message header */
               unsigned int  msg_len;  /* Number of bytes transmitted */
           };

       The  msg_hdr  field  is  a msghdr structure, as described in sendmsg(2).
       The msg_len field is used to return the number of bytes  sent  from  the
       message  in  msg_hdr  (i.e.,  the same as the return value from a single
       sendmsg(2) call).

       The flags argument contains flags ORed together.  The flags are the same
       as for sendmsg(2).

       A blocking sendmmsg() call blocks until vlen messages have been sent.  A
       nonblocking call sends as many messages as possible  (up  to  the  limit
       specified by vlen) and returns immediately.

       On  return from sendmmsg(), the msg_len fields of successive elements of
       msgvec are updated to contain the number of bytes transmitted  from  the
       corresponding  msg_hdr.  The return value of the call indicates the num-
       ber of elements of msgvec that have been updated.

RETURN VALUE
       On success, sendmmsg() returns the number of messages sent from  msgvec;
       if  this  is  less  than vlen, the caller can retry with a further send-
       mmsg() call to send the remaining messages.

       On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS
       Errors are as for sendmsg(2).  An error is returned only if no datagrams
       could be sent.  See also BUGS.

STANDARDS
       Linux.

HISTORY
       Linux 3.0, glibc 2.14.

NOTES
       The value specified in vlen is capped to UIO_MAXIOV (1024).

BUGS
       If an error occurs after at least one message has been  sent,  the  call
       succeeds,  and  returns  the number of messages sent.  The error code is
       lost.  The caller can retry the  transmission,  starting  at  the  first
       failed message, but there is no guarantee that, if an error is returned,
       it will be the same as the one that was lost on the previous call.

EXAMPLES
       The  example  below uses sendmmsg() to send onetwo and three in two dis-
       tinct UDP datagrams using one system call.  The contents  of  the  first
       datagram originates from a pair of buffers.

       #define _GNU_SOURCE
       #include <arpa/inet.h>
       #include <netinet/in.h>
       #include <stdio.h>
       #include <stdlib.h>
       #include <string.h>
       #include <sys/socket.h>
       #include <sys/types.h>

       int
       main(void)
       {
           int                 retval;
           int                 sockfd;
           struct iovec        msg1[2], msg2;
           struct mmsghdr      msg[2];
           struct sockaddr_in  addr;

           sockfd = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, 0);
           if (sockfd == -1) {
               perror("socket()");
               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
           }

           addr.sin_family = AF_INET;
           addr.sin_addr.s_addr = htonl(INADDR_LOOPBACK);
           addr.sin_port = htons(1234);
           if (connect(sockfd, (struct sockaddr *) &addr, sizeof(addr)) == -1) {
               perror("connect()");
               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
           }

           memset(msg1, 0, sizeof(msg1));
           msg1[0].iov_base = "one";
           msg1[0].iov_len = 3;
           msg1[1].iov_base = "two";
           msg1[1].iov_len = 3;

           memset(&msg2, 0, sizeof(msg2));
           msg2.iov_base = "three";
           msg2.iov_len = 5;

           memset(msg, 0, sizeof(msg));
           msg[0].msg_hdr.msg_iov = msg1;
           msg[0].msg_hdr.msg_iovlen = 2;

           msg[1].msg_hdr.msg_iov = &msg2;
           msg[1].msg_hdr.msg_iovlen = 1;

           retval = sendmmsg(sockfd, msg, 2, 0);
           if (retval == -1)
               perror("sendmmsg()");
           else
               printf("%d messages sent\n", retval);

           exit(0);
       }

SEE ALSO
       recvmmsg(2), sendmsg(2), socket(2), socket(7)

Linux man-pages 6.9.1              2024-06-15                       sendmmsg(2)

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