NAME

       sendmmsg - send multiple messages on a socket

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
       number 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 sendmmsg() 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.

VERSIONS

       The sendmmsg() system call was added in Linux 3.0.  Support in glibc was added in version 2.14.

CONFORMING TO

       sendmmsg() is Linux-specific.

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.

EXAMPLE

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

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

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

           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)

COLOPHON

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       information  about  reporting  bugs,  and  the  latest  version  of  this   page,   can   be   found   at
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.