LuaSocket: The socket namespace
Description: LuaSocket: The core namespace
Keywords: Lua, LuaSocket, Socket, Network, Library, Support

Network support for the Lua language

home · download · installation · introduction · reference

## The socket namespace

The `socket` namespace contains the core functionality of LuaSocket.

To obtain the `socket` namespace, run:

    -- loads the socket module
    local socket = require("socket")

socket.headers.canonic

The `socket.headers.canonic` table is used by the HTTP and SMTP modules to translate from lowercase field names back into their canonic capitalization. When a lowercase field name exists as a key in this table, the associated value is substituted in whenever the field name is sent out.

You can obtain the `headers` namespace if case run-time modifications are required by running:

    -- loads the headers module
    local headers = require("headers")

socket.bind(address, port [, backlog])

This function is a shortcut that creates and returns a TCP server object bound to a local `address` and `port`, ready to accept client connections. Optionally, user can also specify the `backlog` argument to the `listen` method (defaults to 32).

Note: The server object returned will have the option "`reuseaddr`" set to `true`.

socket.connect[46](address, port [, locaddr] [, locport] [, family])

This function is a shortcut that creates and returns a TCP client object connected to a remote `address` at a given `port`. Optionally, the user can also specify the local address and port to bind (`locaddr` and `locport`), or restrict the socket family to "`inet`" or "`inet6`". Without specifying `family` to `connect`, whether a tcp or tcp6 connection is created depends on your system configuration. Two variations of connect are defined as simple helper functions that restrict the `family`, `socket.connect4` and `socket.connect6`.

socket._DEBUG

This constant is set to `true` if the library was compiled with debug support.

socket._DATAGRAMSIZE

Default datagram size used by calls to `receive` and `receivefrom`. (Unless changed in compile time, the value is 8192.)

socket.gettime()

Returns the UNIX time in seconds. You should subtract the values returned by this function to get meaningful values.

    t = socket.gettime()
    -- do stuff
    print(socket.gettime() - t .. " seconds elapsed")

socket.newtry(finalizer)

Creates and returns a clean `try` function that allows for cleanup before the exception is raised.

`Finalizer` is a function that will be called before `try` throws the exception.

The function returns your customized `try` function.

Note: This idea saved a lot of work with the implementation of protocols in LuaSocket:

    foo = socket.protect(function()
        -- connect somewhere
        local c = socket.try(socket.connect("somewhere", 42))
        -- create a try function that closes 'c' on error
        local try = socket.newtry(function() c:close() end)
        -- do everything reassured c will be closed
        try(c:send("hello there?\r\n"))
        local answer = try(c:receive())
        ...
        try(c:send("good bye\r\n"))
        c:close()
    end)

socket.protect(func)

Converts a function that throws exceptions into a safe function. This function only catches exceptions thrown by the `try` and `newtry` functions. It does not catch normal Lua errors.

`Func` is a function that calls `try` (or `assert`, or `error`) to throw exceptions.

Returns an equivalent function that instead of throwing exceptions in case of a failed `try` call, returns `nil` followed by an error message.

socket.select(recvt, sendt [, timeout])

Waits for a number of sockets to change status.

`Recvt` is an array with the sockets to test for characters available for reading. Sockets in the `sendt` array are watched to see if it is OK to immediately write on them. `Timeout` is the maximum amount of time (in seconds) to wait for a change in status. A `nil`, negative or omitted `timeout` value allows the function to block indefinitely. `Recvt` and `sendt` can also be empty tables or `nil`. Non-socket values (or values with non-numeric indices) in the arrays will be silently ignored.

The function returns a list with the sockets ready for reading, a list with the sockets ready for writing and an error message. The error message is "`timeout`" if a timeout condition was met, "`select failed`" if the call to `select` failed, and `nil` otherwise. The returned tables are doubly keyed both by integers and also by the sockets themselves, to simplify the test if a specific socket has changed status.

Note: `select` can monitor a limited number of sockets, as defined by the constant `socket._SETSIZE`. This number may be as high as 1024 or as low as 64 by default, depending on the system. It is usually possible to change this at compile time. Invoking `select` with a larger number of sockets will raise an error.

Important note: a known bug in WinSock causes `select` to fail on non-blocking TCP sockets. The function may return a socket as writable even though the socket is not ready for sending.

Another important note: calling select with a server socket in the receive parameter before a call to accept does not guarantee `accept` will return immediately. Use the `settimeout` method or `accept` might block forever.

Yet another note: If you close a socket and pass it to `select`, it will be ignored.

Using select with non-socket objects: Any object that implements `getfd` and `dirty` can be used with `select`, allowing objects from other libraries to be used within a `socket.select` driven loop.

socket._SETSIZE

The maximum number of sockets that the `select` function can handle.

socket.sink(mode, socket)

Creates an LTN12 sink from a stream socket object.

`Mode` defines the behavior of the sink. The following options are available:

- `"http-chunked"`: sends data through socket after applying the chunked transfer coding, closing the socket when done;
- `"close-when-done"`: sends all received data through the socket, closing the socket when done;
- `"keep-open"`: sends all received data through the socket, leaving it open when done.

`Socket` is the stream socket object used to send the data.

The function returns a sink with the appropriate behavior.

socket.skip(d [, ret1, ret2 ... retN])

Drops a number of arguments and returns the remaining.

`D` is the number of arguments to drop. `Ret1` to `retN` are the arguments.

The function returns `retd+1` to `retN`.

Note: This function is useful to avoid creation of dummy variables:

    -- get the status code and separator from SMTP server reply
    local code, sep = socket.skip(2, string.find(line, "^(%d%d%d)(.?)"))

socket.sleep(time)

Freezes the program execution during a given amount of time.

`Time` is the number of seconds to sleep for. If `time` is negative, the function returns immediately.

socket.source(mode, socket [, length])

Creates an LTN12 source from a stream socket object.

`Mode` defines the behavior of the source. The following options are available:

- `"http-chunked"`: receives data from socket and removes the chunked transfer coding before returning the data;
- `"by-length"`: receives a fixed number of bytes from the socket. This mode requires the extra argument `length`;
- `"until-closed"`: receives data from a socket until the other side closes the connection.

`Socket` is the stream socket object used to receive the data.

The function returns a source with the appropriate behavior.

socket._SOCKETINVALID

The OS value for an invalid socket. This can be used with `tcp:getfd` and `tcp:setfd` methods.

socket.try(ret1 [, ret2 ... retN])

Throws an exception in case `ret1` is falsy, using `ret2` as the error message. The exception is supposed to be caught by a `protect`ed function only.

`Ret1` to `retN` can be arbitrary arguments, but are usually the return values of a function call nested with `try`.

The function returns `ret`1 to `ret`N if `ret`1 is not `nil` or `false`. Otherwise, it calls `error` passing `ret`2 wrapped in a table with metatable used by `protect` to distinguish exceptions from runtime errors.

    -- connects or throws an exception with the appropriate error message
    c = socket.try(socket.connect("localhost", 80))

socket._VERSION

This constant has a string describing the current LuaSocket version.