.TH SOCKET 2
.SH NAME
socket \- creates a socket.
.SH SYNOPSIS
.ft B
#include <sys/socket.h>

.in +5
.ti -5
int socket(int \fIdomain\fP, int \fItype\fP, int \fIprotocol\fP);
.br
.ft P
.SH DESCRIPTION
socket() creates a socket in the specified \fIdomain\fP. A socket
is a communications endpoint. Currently two values are supported
for \fIdomain\fP, PF_INET for internet sockets and PF_UNIX for
local unix domain sockets. The \fItype\fP of socket can be
SOCK_STREAM for TCP sockets in the PF_INET \fIdomain\fP or
SOCK_DGRAM for UDP sockets in the PF_INET \fIdomain\fP. For
sockets in the PF_UNIX \fIdomain\fP, SOCK_STREAM, SOCK_DGRAM, and
SOCK_SEQPACKET are supported values for \fItype\fP. The value
of \fIprotocol\fP is always 0 or IPPROTO_TCP for TCP sockets or
IPPROTO_UDP for UDP sockets.
.SH RETURN VALUES
On success, this function returns a numeric socket descriptor.
On error, -1 is returned and \fIerrno\fP is set.
.SH ERRORS
.TP 15
[EAFNOSUPPORT]
The \fIdomain\fP is not supported.
.TP 15
[EPROTOTYPE]
The \fIprotocol\fP is not supported by the \fIdomain\fP.
.TP 15
[EMFILE]
The process descriptor table is full.
.TP 15
[ENFILE]
The system descriptor table is full.
.TP 15
[ENOSPC]
Could not allocate a file descriptor.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR socketpair(2),
.BR bind(2),
.BR listen(2),
.BR accept(2),
.BR connect(2),
.BR shutdown(2),
.BR getsockopt(2),
.BR setsockopt(2),
.BR ip(4),
.BR inet(8),
.BR unix(8)