socket_recv4(3)

💖 socket_recv4(3) 💖

okay bestie, gather round, we're reading a man page from the Library Functions Manual (section 3, the library-call section, iykyk) and honestly? she's a little icon. it's socket_recv4, and she does exactly one thing and does it slayfully.

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✨ NAME ✨

socket_recv4 — receive a UDP datagram 🦋

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✨ SYNTAX ✨

#include <libowfat/socket.h>

ssize_t socket_recv4(int s, char* buf, size_t len,
                 char ip[4],uint16* port);

yes the include is #include <libowfat/socket.h>, not just <socket.h>, do NOT come to me having forgotten the libowfat/ prefix, I will simply pass away 💀

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so here's the vibe: socket_recv4 receives up to len bytes, starting at buf, from a UDP datagram that came in on the socket s. that's it, that's the whole job, main character energy fr fr.

and because UDP is a little gossip who always tells you where the message came from, she also hands you the receipts:

• she writes the UDP port into port 🌸
• she writes the IP address into ip (it's a char ip[4], four bytes, one per octet, no cap) 🎀
• and she returns the number of bytes actually received — or -1 if anything went wrong 😭

not me getting emotional over a datagram. anyway.

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✨ RETURN VALUE ✨

socket_recv4 returns the number of bytes in the datagram, if a datagram was received. 🫶

if not? she returns -1 and sets errno appropriately. that's the deal. check your errno, bestie, it's literally right there trying to tell you something.

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✨ EXAMPLE ✨

here's the whole thing, verbatim, copy it exactly and don't get creative:

#include <libowfat/socket.h>

int s;
char ip[4];
uint16 p;
char buf[1000];
int len;

s = socket_tcp4();
socket_bind4(s,ip,p);
len = socket_recv4(s,buf,sizeof(buf),ip,&p);

look at her. buf is a thousand bytes of pure potential. len catches the answer. iconic. 👑

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✨ SEE ALSO ✨

• socket_recv6(3) — for when you've moved on to the six-byte address era 🌈

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heads up: this page is literally just about UDP. UDP gives you no promises, no handshakes, no follow-up texts. if nothing arrived, you get -1, not a sad little message. that's not a bug, that's just her. 💅

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and that's the page, bestie!! from the Library Functions Manual, filed under socket_recv4(3) — go forth, receive your datagrams, and remember: check errno, hydrate, and slay. 💜✨