IPC::Msg(3perl)

💖 NAME 💖

IPC::Msg — the SysV Msg IPC object class, bestie. and yes it's giving Perl Programmers Reference Guide, section 3perl, we're fancy like that. ✨

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🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

use IPC::SysV qw(IPC_PRIVATE S_IRUSR S_IWUSR);
use IPC::Msg;

$msg = IPC::Msg->new(IPC_PRIVATE, S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR);

$msg->snd($msgtype, $msgdata);

$msg->rcv($buf, 256);

$ds = $msg->stat;

$msg->remove;

like... look at her. five whole lines and she's already running the whole queue 🫶

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Okay so the whole entire point: this is a class that hands you an object-based interface to SysV IPC message queues. that's it. that's the class. she's small, she's ancient, she's load-bearing. 💅

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👑 METHODS 👑

🎀 new ( KEY , FLAGS )

This makes you a brand new message queue, tied to KEY. A fresh queue gets created when either of these is true:

• KEY is equal to IPC_PRIVATE — like, okay private queen, we see you
• KEY doesn't already have a message queue associated with it, and FLAGS & IPC_CREAT is true

And when a new message queue does get created, FLAGS is what sets the permissions.

⚠️ be so careful tho: don't set any flags the Sys V IPC implementation doesn't allow. on some systems, setting execute bits makes the operations fail. not a vibe, not a slay. 🚫

🔥 id

Returns the system message queue identifier. that's the number the system knows her by, fr fr.

🌸 rcv ( BUF, LEN [, TYPE [, FLAGS ]] )

Reads a message off the queue, and returns the type of the message it read. see msgrcv(2) for the deets.

heads up: BUF becomes tainted. yes, that kind of tainted 🙈

💀 remove

Remove and destroy the message queue from the system. she's gone, no coming back, we don't talk about her anymore 😭

🦋 set ( STAT )

🦋 set ( NAME => VALUE [, NAME => VALUE ...] )

set sets these values of the stat structure that's associated with the message queue:

• uid
• gid
• mode (oly the permission bits)
• qbytes

(and yeah, "oly" — we're copying it exactly, character for character. no edits. our hands are tied bestie 💅)

set takes either a stat object, like the one the stat method hands back, or a plain list of name-value pairs. dealer's choice.

⭐ snd ( TYPE, MSG [, FLAGS ] )

Drops a message onto the queue, carrying the data from MSG and typed as TYPE. see msgsnd(2). this is the "put the thing in the thing" move, iconic.

🎀 stat

Returns an object of type IPC::Msg::stat, which is a sub-class of Class::Struct. she comes with these fields:

• uid
• gid
• cuid
• cgid
• mode
• qnum
• qbytes
• lspid
• lrpid
• stime
• rtime
• ctime

for what any of these actually mean, go read you system documentation. (yes — "you". that's literally what it says. we are not fixing it, it's ✨canonical✨ now.)

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🔍 SEE ALSO 🔍

IPC::SysV, Class::Struct — go read those too, they're friends of hers 🌈

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🌟 AUTHORS 🌟

Graham Barr <gbarr@pobox.com>, Marcus Holland-Moritz <mhx@cpan.org> — two absolute legends, credit where it's due 👑

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📜 COPYRIGHT 📜

Version 2.x, Copyright (C) 2007-2013, Marcus Holland-Moritz.

Version 1.x, Copyright (c) 1997, Graham Barr.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! perl v5.44.0, dated 2026-10-17, filed under IPC::Msg(3perl) in the Perl Programmers Reference Guide. screenshot it, cite it, slay it 💖✨🎀🦋🌸💅🫶