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SENDFILE(2) Linux Programmer's Manual SENDFILE(2)
NAME
sendfile - transfer data between file descriptors
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/sendfile.h>
ssize_t sendfile(int out_fd, int in_fd, off_t *offset, size_t count);
DESCRIPTION
sendfile() copies data between one file descriptor and another.
Because this copying is done within the kernel, sendfile() is more
efficient than the combination of read(2) and write(2), which would
require transferring data to and from user space.
in_fd should be a file descriptor opened for reading and out_fd should
be a descriptor opened for writing.
If offset is not NULL, then it points to a variable holding the file
offset from which sendfile() will start reading data from in_fd. When
sendfile() returns, this variable will be set to the offset of the byte
following the last byte that was read. If offset is not NULL, then
sendfile() does not modify the current file offset of in_fd; otherwise
the current file offset is adjusted to reflect the number of bytes read
from in_fd.
If offset is NULL, then data will be read from in_fd starting at the
current file offset, and the file offset will be updated by the call.
count is the number of bytes to copy between the file descriptors.
The in_fd argument must correspond to a file which supports
mmap(2)-like operations (i.e., it cannot be a socket).
In Linux kernels before 2.6.33, out_fd must refer to a socket. Since
Linux 2.6.33 it can be any file. If it is a regular file, then send-
file() changes the file offset appropriately.
RETURN VALUE
If the transfer was successful, the number of bytes written to out_fd
is returned. On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately.
ERRORS
EAGAIN Nonblocking I/O has been selected using O_NONBLOCK and the write
would block.
EBADF The input file was not opened for reading or the output file was
not opened for writing.
EFAULT Bad address.
EINVAL Descriptor is not valid or locked, or an mmap(2)-like operation
is not available for in_fd.
EIO Unspecified error while reading from in_fd.
ENOMEM Insufficient memory to read from in_fd.
VERSIONS
sendfile() is a new feature in Linux 2.2. The include file <sys/send-
file.h> is present since glibc 2.1.
CONFORMING TO
Not specified in POSIX.1-2001, or other standards.
Other UNIX systems implement sendfile() with different semantics and
prototypes. It should not be used in portable programs.
NOTES
If you plan to use sendfile() for sending files to a TCP socket, but
need to send some header data in front of the file contents, you will
find it useful to employ the TCP_CORK option, described in tcp(7), to
minimize the number of packets and to tune performance.
In Linux 2.4 and earlier, out_fd could also refer to a regular file,
and sendfile() changed the current offset of that file.
The original Linux sendfile() system call was not designed to handle
large file offsets. Consequently, Linux 2.4 added sendfile64(), with a
wider type for the offset argument. The glibc sendfile() wrapper func-
tion transparently deals with the kernel differences.
Applications may wish to fall back to read(2)/write(2) in the case
where sendfile() fails with EINVAL or ENOSYS.
The Linux-specific splice(2) call supports transferring data between
arbitrary files (e.g., a pair of sockets).
SEE ALSO
mmap(2), open(2), socket(2), splice(2)
COLOPHON
This page is part of release 3.69 of the Linux man-pages project. A
description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
latest version of this page, can be found at
http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
Linux 2011-09-14 SENDFILE(2)
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