MPI_IALLTOALL(3)

hey bestie 💖 welcome to the Open MPI manual page for MPI_IALLTOALL(3) — yes, the all-to-all one, and it's lowkey iconic. grab a snack 🍓, we're gonna vibe through it.

🌸 NAME 🌸

MPI_Alltoall, MPI_Ialltoall, MPI_Alltoall_init — all processes send data to all processes. periodt 💅

✨ SYNTAX ✨

💻 C Syntax 💻

#include <mpi.h>

int MPI_Alltoall(const void *sendbuf, int sendcount,
     MPI_Datatype sendtype, void *recvbuf, int recvcount,
     MPI_Datatype recvtype, MPI_Comm comm)

int MPI_Ialltoall(const void *sendbuf, int sendcount,
     MPI_Datatype sendtype, void *recvbuf, int recvcount,
     MPI_Datatype recvtype, MPI_Comm comm, MPI_Request *request)

int MPI_Alltoall_init(const void *sendbuf, int sendcount,
     MPI_Datatype sendtype, void *recvbuf, int recvcount,
     MPI_Datatype recvtype, MPI_Comm comm, MPI_Info info, MPI_Request *request)

🧚 Fortran Syntax 🧚

USE MPI
! or the older form: INCLUDE 'mpif.h'
MPI_ALLTOALL(SENDBUF, SENDCOUNT, SENDTYPE, RECVBUF, RECVCOUNT,
     RECVTYPE, COMM, IERROR)

     <type>  SENDBUF(*), RECVBUF(*)
     INTEGER SENDCOUNT, SENDTYPE, RECVCOUNT, RECVTYPE
     INTEGER COMM, IERROR

MPI_IALLTOALL(SENDBUF, SENDCOUNT, SENDTYPE, RECVBUF, RECVCOUNT,
     RECVTYPE, COMM, REQUEST, IERROR)

     <type>  SENDBUF(*), RECVBUF(*)
     INTEGER SENDCOUNT, SENDTYPE, RECVCOUNT, RECVTYPE
     INTEGER COMM, REQUEST, IERROR

MPI_ALLTOALL_INIT(SENDBUF, SENDCOUNT, SENDTYPE, RECVBUF, RECVCOUNT,
     RECVTYPE, COMM, INFO, REQUEST, IERROR)

     <type>  SENDBUF(*), RECVBUF(*)
     INTEGER SENDCOUNT, SENDTYPE, RECVCOUNT, RECVTYPE
     INTEGER COMM, INFO, REQUEST, IERROR

🦋 Fortran 2008 Syntax 🦋

USE mpi_f08
MPI_Alltoall(sendbuf, sendcount, sendtype, recvbuf, recvcount, recvtype,
             comm, ierror)

     TYPE(*), DIMENSION(..), INTENT(IN) :: sendbuf
     TYPE(*), DIMENSION(..) :: recvbuf
     INTEGER, INTENT(IN) :: sendcount, recvcount
     TYPE(MPI_Datatype), INTENT(IN) :: sendtype, recvtype
     TYPE(MPI_Comm), INTENT(IN) :: comm
     INTEGER, OPTIONAL, INTENT(OUT) :: ierror

MPI_Ialltoall(sendbuf, sendcount, sendtype, recvbuf, recvcount, recvtype,
             comm, request, ierror)

     TYPE(*), DIMENSION(..), INTENT(IN), ASYNCHRONOUS :: sendbuf
     TYPE(*), DIMENSION(..), ASYNCHRONOUS :: recvbuf
     INTEGER, INTENT(IN) :: sendcount, recvcount
     TYPE(MPI_Datatype), INTENT(IN) :: sendtype, recvtype
     TYPE(MPI_Comm), INTENT(IN) :: comm
     TYPE(MPI_Request), INTENT(OUT) :: request
     INTEGER, OPTIONAL, INTENT(OUT) :: ierror

MPI_Alltoall_init(sendbuf, sendcount, sendtype, recvbuf, recvcount, recvtype,
                     comm, info, request, ierror)

     TYPE(*), DIMENSION(..), INTENT(IN), ASYNCHRONOUS :: sendbuf
     TYPE(*), DIMENSION(..), ASYNCHRONOUS :: recvbuf
     INTEGER, INTENT(IN) :: sendcount, recvcount
     TYPE(MPI_Datatype), INTENT(IN) :: sendtype, recvtype
     TYPE(MPI_Comm), INTENT(IN) :: comm
     TYPE(MPI_Info), INTENT(IN) :: info
     TYPE(MPI_Request), INTENT(OUT) :: request
     INTEGER, OPTIONAL, INTENT(OUT) :: ierror

💖 INPUT PARAMETERS 💖

• sendbuf — Starting address of send buffer (choice).
• sendcount — Number of elements to send to each process (integer).
• sendtype — Datatype of send buffer elements (handle).
• recvcount — Number of elements to receive from each process (integer).
• recvtype — Datatype of receive buffer elements (handle).
• comm — Communicator over which data is to be exchanged (handle).
• info — Info (handle, persistent only).

🎀 OUTPUT PARAMETERS 🎀

• recvbuf — Starting address of receive buffer (choice).
• request — Request (handle, non-blocking only).
• ierror — Fortran only: Error status (integer).

🌈 DESCRIPTION 🌈

okay so MPI_Alltoall is a collective operation where literally every process sends the same amount of data to every other process, and receives the same amount of data from every other process. no cap. the way this routine works can be represented like this, where each process performs 2n (n being the number of processes in communicator comm) independent point-to-point communications (including communication with itself):

MPI_Comm_size(comm, &n);
for (i = 0, i < n; i++)
    MPI_Send(sendbuf + i * sendcount * extent(sendtype),
        sendcount, sendtype, i, ..., comm);
for (i = 0, i < n; i++)
    MPI_Recv(recvbuf + i * recvcount * extent(recvtype),
        recvcount, recvtype, i, ..., comm);

Each process breaks up its local sendbuf into n blocks — each containing sendcount elements of type sendtype — and divides its recvbuf similarly according to recvcount and recvtype. Process j sends the k-th block of its local sendbuf to process k, which places the data in the j-th block of its local recvbuf. The amount of data sent must be equal to the amount of data received, pairwise, between every pair of processes. fr fr, that balance matters 💅

🌊 WHEN COMMUNICATOR IS AN INTER-COMMUNICATOR 🌊

When the communicator is an inter-communicator, the gather operation occurs in two phases. The data is gathered from all the members of the first group and received by all the members of the second group. Then the data is gathered from all the members of the second group and received by all the members of the first. The operation exhibits a symmetric, full-duplex behavior.

The first group defines the root process. The root process uses MPI_ROOT as the value of root. All other processes in the first group use MPI_PROC_NULL as the value of root. All processes in the second group use the rank of the root process in the first group as the value of root.

When the communicator is an intra-communicator, these groups are the same, and the operation occurs in a single phase.

🫶 USE OF IN-PLACE OPTION 🫶

When the communicator is an intracommunicator, you can perform an all-to-all operation in-place (the output buffer is used as the input buffer). Use the variable MPI_IN_PLACE as the value of sendbuf. In this case, sendcount and sendtype are ignored. The input data of each process is assumed to be in the area where that process would receive its own contribution to the receive buffer.

🔥 NOTES 🔥

All arguments on all processes are significant. The comm argument, in particular, must describe the same communicator on all processes.

There are two MPI library functions that are more general than MPI_Alltoall. MPI_Alltoallv allows all-to-all communication to and from buffers that need not be contiguous; different processes may send and receive different amounts of data. MPI_Alltoallw expands MPI_Alltoallv’s functionality to allow the exchange of data with different datatypes.

🚨 ERRORS 🚨

Almost all MPI routines return an error value; C routines as the return result of the function and Fortran routines in the last argument.

Before the error value is returned, the current MPI error handler associated with the communication object (e.g., communicator, window, file) is called. If no communication object is associated with the MPI call, then the call is considered attached to MPI_COMM_SELF and will call the associated MPI error handler. When MPI_COMM_SELF is not initialized (i.e., before MPI_Init/MPI_Init_thread, after MPI_Finalize, or when using the Sessions Model exclusively) the error raises the initial error handler. The initial error handler can be changed by calling MPI_Comm_set_errhandler on MPI_COMM_SELF when using the World model, or the mpi_initial_errhandler CLI argument to mpiexec or info key to MPI_Comm_spawn/MPI_Comm_spawn_multiple. If no other appropriate error handler has been set, then the MPI_ERRORS_RETURN error handler is called for MPI I/O functions and the MPI_ERRORS_ABORT error handler is called for all other MPI functions.

Open MPI includes three predefined error handlers that can be used:

• MPI_ERRORS_ARE_FATAL — Causes the program to abort all connected MPI processes.
• MPI_ERRORS_ABORT — An error handler that can be invoked on a communicator, window, file, or session. When called on a communicator, it acts as if MPI_Abort was called on that communicator. If called on a window or file, acts as if MPI_Abort was called on a communicator containing the group of processes in the corresponding window or file. If called on a session, aborts only the local process.
• MPI_ERRORS_RETURN — Returns an error code to the application.

MPI applications can also implement their own error handlers by calling:

• MPI_Comm_create_errhandler then MPI_Comm_set_errhandler
• MPI_File_create_errhandler then MPI_File_set_errhandler
• MPI_Session_create_errhandler then MPI_Session_set_errhandler or at MPI_Session_init
• MPI_Win_create_errhandler then MPI_Win_set_errhandler

⚠️ Note that MPI does not guarantee that an MPI program can continue past an error.

See the MPI man page for a full list of MPI error codes.

See the Error Handling section of the MPI-3.1 standard for more information.

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• MPI_Alltoallv
• MPI_Alltoallw

🎀 COPYRIGHT 🎀

2003-2026, The Open MPI Community

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okay bye bestie 💖 this was the Open MPI page — Sep 11, 2026, manual MPI_IALLTOALL(3) — mwah 💅