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

Network support for the Lua language

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## 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.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.gettime()

Returns the time in seconds, relative to the origin of the universe. 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.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.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. It will be called in protected mode.

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, returns `nil` followed by an error message.

Note: Beware that if your function performs some illegal operation that raises an error, the protected function will catch the error and return it as a string. This is because the `try` function uses errors as the mechanism to throw exceptions.

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 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.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._SETSIZE

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

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

Throws an exception in case of error. The exception can only be caught by the `protect` function. It does not explode into an error message.

`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`. Otherwise, it calls `error` passing `ret`2.

    -- 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.