Network Programming with Perl

The sockatmark() Function

The most common use of urgent data is to mark a section of the TCP stream as invalid so that it can be discarded. For example, the UNIX rlogin (remote login) server uses this feature to accommodate the user's urgent request to kill a runaway remote program. It isn't sufficient for the rlogin server to terminate the program, because it may have already transmitted substantial output to the rlogin client at the user's end of the connection. The server must tell the client to ignore all output up to the point at which the user hit the interrupt key. This is where the sockatmark() function comes in:

$flag = sockatmark($socket) sockatmark() is used to determine the location of the urgent data pointer. In the normal out-of-band ...