getpeername(2) - Linux manual page (original) (raw)


getpeername(2) System Calls Manual getpeername(2)

NAME top

   getpeername - get name of connected peer socket

LIBRARY top

   Standard C library (_libc_, _-lc_)

SYNOPSIS top

   **#include <sys/socket.h>**

   **int getpeername(int** _sockfd_**, struct sockaddr *restrict** _addr_**,**
                   **socklen_t *restrict** _addrlen_**);**

DESCRIPTION top

   **getpeername**() returns the address of the peer connected to the
   socket _sockfd_, in the buffer pointed to by _addr_.  The _addrlen_
   argument should be initialized to indicate the amount of space
   pointed to by _addr_.  On return it contains the actual size of the
   name returned (in bytes).  The name is truncated if the buffer
   provided is too small.

   The returned address is truncated if the buffer provided is too
   small; in this case, _addrlen_ will return a value greater than was
   supplied to the call.

RETURN VALUE top

   On success, zero is returned.  On error, -1 is returned, and _[errno](../man3/errno.3.html)_
   is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS top

   **EBADF** The argument _sockfd_ is not a valid file descriptor.

   **EFAULT** The _addr_ argument points to memory not in a valid part of
          the process address space.

   **EINVAL** _addrlen_ is invalid (e.g., is negative).

   **ENOBUFS**
          Insufficient resources were available in the system to
          perform the operation.

   **ENOTCONN**
          The socket is not connected.

   **ENOTSOCK**
          The file descriptor _sockfd_ does not refer to a socket.

STANDARDS top

   POSIX.1-2008.

HISTORY top

   POSIX.1-2001, SVr4, 4.4BSD (first appeared in 4.2BSD).

NOTES top

   For stream sockets, once a [connect(2)](../man2/connect.2.html) has been performed, either
   socket can call **getpeername**() to obtain the address of the peer
   socket.  On the other hand, datagram sockets are connectionless.
   Calling [connect(2)](../man2/connect.2.html) on a datagram socket merely sets the peer
   address for outgoing datagrams sent with [write(2)](../man2/write.2.html) or [recv(2)](../man2/recv.2.html).  The
   caller of [connect(2)](../man2/connect.2.html) can use **getpeername**() to obtain the peer
   address that it earlier set for the socket.  However, the peer
   socket is unaware of this information, and calling **getpeername**()
   on the peer socket will return no useful information (unless a
   [connect(2)](../man2/connect.2.html) call was also executed on the peer).  Note also that
   the receiver of a datagram can obtain the address of the sender
   when using [recvfrom(2)](../man2/recvfrom.2.html).

SEE ALSO top

   [accept(2)](../man2/accept.2.html), [bind(2)](../man2/bind.2.html), [getsockname(2)](../man2/getsockname.2.html), [ip(7)](../man7/ip.7.html), [socket(7)](../man7/socket.7.html), [unix(7)](../man7/unix.7.html)

COLOPHON top

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Linux man-pages 6.10 2024-07-23 getpeername(2)


Pages that refer to this page:socket(2), socketcall(2), syscalls(2), getnameinfo(3), sockaddr(3type), crypttab(5), systemd.exec(5), signal-safety(7), socket(7), unix(7)