ioctlsocket function (winsock.h)

Article
12/14/2023

The ioctlsocket function controls the I/O mode of a socket.

Syntax

int ioctlsocket(
  [in]      SOCKET s,
  [in]      long   cmd,
  [in, out] u_long *argp
);

Parameters

[in] s

A descriptor identifying a socket.

[in] cmd

A command to perform on the socket s. See Winsock IOCTLs.

[in, out] argp

A pointer to a parameter for cmd.

Return value

Upon successful completion, the ioctlsocket returns zero. Otherwise, a value of SOCKET_ERROR is returned, and a specific error code can be retrieved by calling WSAGetLastError.

Error code	Meaning
WSANOTINITIALISED	A successful WSAStartup call must occur before using this function.
WSAENETDOWN	The network subsystem has failed.
WSAEINPROGRESS	A blocking Windows Sockets 1.1 call is in progress, or the service provider is still processing a callback function.
WSAENOTSOCK	The descriptor s is not a socket.
WSAEFAULT	The argp parameter is not a valid part of the user address space.

Remarks

The ioctlsocket function can be used on any socket in any state. It is used to set or retrieve some operating parameters associated with the socket, independent of the protocol and communications subsystem. Here are the supported commands to use in the cmd parameter and their semantics:

The WSAIoctl function is used to set or retrieve operating parameters associated with the socket, the transport protocol, or the communications subsystem.

The WSAIoctl function is more powerful than the ioctlsocket function and supports a large number of possible values for the operating parameters to set or retrieve.

Example Code

The following example demonstrates the use of the ioctlsocket function.


#include <winsock2.h>
#include <stdio.h>

#pragma comment(lib, "Ws2_32.lib")

void main()
{
//-------------------------
// Initialize Winsock
WSADATA wsaData;
int iResult;
u_long iMode = 0;

iResult = WSAStartup(MAKEWORD(2,2), &wsaData);
if (iResult != NO_ERROR)
  printf("Error at WSAStartup()\n");

//-------------------------
// Create a SOCKET object.
SOCKET m_socket;
m_socket = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TCP);
if (m_socket == INVALID_SOCKET) {
  printf("Error at socket(): %ld\n", WSAGetLastError());
  WSACleanup();
  return;
}

//-------------------------
// Set the socket I/O mode: In this case FIONBIO
// enables or disables the blocking mode for the 
// socket based on the numerical value of iMode.
// If iMode = 0, blocking is enabled; 
// If iMode != 0, non-blocking mode is enabled.

iResult = ioctlsocket(m_socket, FIONBIO, &iMode);
if (iResult != NO_ERROR)
  printf("ioctlsocket failed with error: %ld\n", iResult);
  

}

Compatibility

This ioctlsocket function performs only a subset of functions on a socket when compared to the ioctl function found in Berkeley sockets. The ioctlsocket function has no command parameter equivalent to the FIOASYNC of ioctl, and SIOCATMARK is the only socket-level command that is supported by ioctlsocket.

Windows Phone 8: This function is supported for Windows Phone Store apps on Windows Phone 8 and later.

Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2: This function is supported for Windows Store apps on Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, and later.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows 8.1, Windows Vista [desktop apps \| UWP apps]
Minimum supported server	Windows Server 2003 [desktop apps \| UWP apps]
Target Platform	Windows
Header	winsock.h (include Winsock2.h)
Library	Ws2_32.lib
DLL	Ws2_32.dll

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