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NAME

       connect - initiate a connection on a socket

LIBRARY

       Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

       #include <sys/socket.h>

       int connect(int sockfd, const struct sockaddr *addr,
                   socklen_t addrlen);

DESCRIPTION

       The connect() system call connects the socket referred to by the file descriptor sockfd to
       the address specified by addr.  The addrlen argument specifies  the  size  of  addr.   The
       format of the address in addr is determined by the address space of the socket sockfd; see
       socket(2) for further details.

       If the socket sockfd is of type SOCK_DGRAM, then addr is the address  to  which  datagrams
       are  sent  by  default,  and  the  only address from which datagrams are received.  If the
       socket is of type SOCK_STREAM or SOCK_SEQPACKET, this call attempts to make  a  connection
       to the socket that is bound to the address specified by addr.

       Some  protocol  sockets (e.g., UNIX domain stream sockets) may successfully connect() only
       once.

       Some protocol sockets (e.g., datagram sockets in the UNIX and Internet  domains)  may  use
       connect() multiple times to change their association.

       Some  protocol  sockets  (e.g.,  TCP  sockets  as well as datagram sockets in the UNIX and
       Internet domains) may dissolve the association  by  connecting  to  an  address  with  the
       sa_family  member of sockaddr set to AF_UNSPEC; thereafter, the socket can be connected to
       another address.  (AF_UNSPEC is supported since Linux 2.2.)

RETURN VALUE

       If the connection or binding succeeds, zero is returned.  On error, -1  is  returned,  and
       errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS

       The  following  are  general socket errors only.  There may be other domain-specific error
       codes.

       EACCES For UNIX domain sockets, which are identified  by  pathname:  Write  permission  is
              denied  on  the  socket  file,  or  search  permission  is  denied  for  one of the
              directories in the path prefix.  (See also path_resolution(7).)

       EACCES, EPERM
              The user tried to  connect  to  a  broadcast  address  without  having  the  socket
              broadcast flag enabled or the connection request failed because of a local firewall
              rule.

       EACCES It can also be returned if an SELinux policy denied a connection (for  example,  if
              there  is  a  policy saying that an HTTP proxy can only connect to ports associated
              with HTTP servers, and the proxy tries to connect to a different port).

       EADDRINUSE
              Local address is already in use.

       EADDRNOTAVAIL
              (Internet domain sockets) The socket referred to by sockfd had not previously  been
              bound  to  an  address and, upon attempting to bind it to an ephemeral port, it was
              determined that all port numbers in the ephemeral port range are currently in  use.
              See the discussion of /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_local_port_range in ip(7).

       EAFNOSUPPORT
              The passed address didn't have the correct address family in its sa_family field.

       EAGAIN For  nonblocking UNIX domain sockets, the socket is nonblocking, and the connection
              cannot be completed immediately.  For other socket families, there are insufficient
              entries in the routing cache.

       EALREADY
              The  socket  is  nonblocking  and  a  previous  connection attempt has not yet been
              completed.

       EBADF  sockfd is not a valid open file descriptor.

       ECONNREFUSED
              A connect() on a stream socket found no one listening on the remote address.

       EFAULT The socket structure address is outside the user's address space.

       EINPROGRESS
              The socket is nonblocking and  the  connection  cannot  be  completed  immediately.
              (UNIX  domain  sockets failed with EAGAIN instead.)  It is possible to select(2) or
              poll(2) for completion by  selecting  the  socket  for  writing.   After  select(2)
              indicates  writability,  use  getsockopt(2)  to  read  the SO_ERROR option at level
              SOL_SOCKET to determine whether connect() completed successfully (SO_ERROR is zero)
              or unsuccessfully (SO_ERROR is one of the usual error codes listed here, explaining
              the reason for the failure).

       EINTR  The system call was interrupted by a signal that was caught; see signal(7).

       EISCONN
              The socket is already connected.

       ENETUNREACH
              Network is unreachable.

       ENOTSOCK
              The file descriptor sockfd does not refer to a socket.

       EPROTOTYPE
              The socket type does not support the requested communications protocol.  This error
              can occur, for example, on an attempt to connect a UNIX domain datagram socket to a
              stream socket.

       ETIMEDOUT
              Timeout while attempting connection.  The server may be  too  busy  to  accept  new
              connections.  Note that for IP sockets the timeout may be very long when syncookies
              are enabled on the server.

STANDARDS

       POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, SVr4, 4.4BSD, (connect() first appeared in 4.2BSD).

NOTES

       For background on the socklen_t type, see accept(2).

       If  connect()  fails,  consider  the  state  of  the  socket  as  unspecified.    Portable
       applications should close the socket and create a new one for reconnecting.

EXAMPLES

       An example of the use of connect() is shown in getaddrinfo(3).

SEE ALSO

       accept(2), bind(2), getsockname(2), listen(2), socket(2), path_resolution(7), selinux(8)