Perl Cookbook

Setting Up a UDP Client

Problem

You want to exchange messages with another process using UDP (datagrams).

Solution

To set up a UDP socket handle, use either the low-level Socket module on your own filehandle:

use Socket;
socket(SOCKET, PF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, getprotobyname("udp")) 
    or die "socket: $!";

or else IO::Socket, which returns an anonymous one:

use IO::Socket;
$handle = IO::Socket::INET->new(Proto => 'udp') 
    or die "socket: $@";     # yes, it uses $@ here

Then to send a message to a machine named $HOSTNAME on port number $PORTNO, use:

$ipaddr   = inet_aton($HOSTNAME);
$portaddr = sockaddr_in($PORTNO, $ipaddr);
send(SOCKET, $MSG, 0, $portaddr) == length($MSG)
        or die "cannot send to $HOSTNAME($PORTNO): $!";

To receive a message of length no greater than $MAXLEN, use:

$portaddr = recv(SOCKET, $MSG, $MAXLEN, 0)      or die "recv: $!";
($portno, $ipaddr) = sockaddr_in($portaddr);
$host = gethostbyaddr($ipaddr, AF_INET);
print "$host($portno) said $MSG\n";

Discussion

Datagram sockets are unlike stream sockets. Streams provide sessions, giving the illusion of a stable connection. You might think of them as working like a telephone call—expensive to set up, but once established, reliable and easy to use. Datagrams, though, are more like the postal system—it’s cheaper and easier to send a letter to your friend on the other side of the world than to call them on the phone. Datagrams are easier on the system than streams. You send a small amount of information one message at a time. But your messages’ ...