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<title>Reads a maximum of length bytes from a socket</title>
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<h1 class="refname">socket_read</h1>
<p class="verinfo">(PHP 4 >= 4.1.0, PHP 5)</p><p class="refpurpose"><span class="refname">socket_read</span> — <span class="dc-title">Reads a maximum of length bytes from a socket</span></p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 description" id="refsect1-function.socket-read-description">
<h3 class="title">Description</h3>
<div class="methodsynopsis dc-description">
<span class="type">string</span> <span class="methodname"><strong>socket_read</strong></span>
( <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">resource</span> <code class="parameter">$socket</code></span>
, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">int</span> <code class="parameter">$length</code></span>
[, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">int</span> <code class="parameter">$type</code><span class="initializer"> = PHP_BINARY_READ</span></span>
] )</div>
<p class="para rdfs-comment">
The function <span class="function"><strong>socket_read()</strong></span> reads from the socket
resource <em><code class="parameter">socket</code></em> created by the
<span class="function"><a href="function.socket-create.html" class="function">socket_create()</a></span> or
<span class="function"><a href="function.socket-accept.html" class="function">socket_accept()</a></span> functions.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 parameters" id="refsect1-function.socket-read-parameters">
<h3 class="title">Parameters</h3>
<p class="para">
<dl>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">socket</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
A valid socket resource created with <span class="function"><a href="function.socket-create.html" class="function">socket_create()</a></span>
or <span class="function"><a href="function.socket-accept.html" class="function">socket_accept()</a></span>.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">length</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
The maximum number of bytes read is specified by the
<em><code class="parameter">length</code></em> parameter. Otherwise you can use
<strong><code>\r</code></strong>, <strong><code>\n</code></strong>,
or <strong><code>\0</code></strong> to end reading (depending on the <em><code class="parameter">type</code></em>
parameter, see below).
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">type</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
Optional <em><code class="parameter">type</code></em> parameter is a named constant:
<ul class="itemizedlist">
<li class="listitem">
<span class="simpara">
<strong><code>PHP_BINARY_READ</code></strong> (Default) - use the system
<em>recv()</em> function. Safe for reading binary data.
</span>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<span class="simpara">
<strong><code>PHP_NORMAL_READ</code></strong> - reading stops at
<em>\n</em> or <em>\r</em>.
</span>
</li>
</ul>
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
</dl>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 returnvalues" id="refsect1-function.socket-read-returnvalues">
<h3 class="title">Return Values</h3>
<p class="para">
<span class="function"><strong>socket_read()</strong></span> returns the data as a string on success,
or <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong> on error (including if the remote host has closed the
connection). The error code can be retrieved with
<span class="function"><a href="function.socket-last-error.html" class="function">socket_last_error()</a></span>. This code may be passed to
<span class="function"><a href="function.socket-strerror.html" class="function">socket_strerror()</a></span> to get a textual representation of
the error.
</p>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<p class="para">
<span class="function"><strong>socket_read()</strong></span> returns a zero length string ("")
when there is no more data to read.
</p>
</p></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 changelog" id="refsect1-function.socket-read-changelog">
<h3 class="title">Changelog</h3>
<p class="para">
<table class="doctable informaltable">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Version</th>
<th>Description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr>
<td>4.1.0</td>
<td>
The default value for <em><code class="parameter">type</code></em> was changed from
<strong><code>PHP_NORMAL_READ</code></strong> to
<strong><code>PHP_BINARY_READ</code></strong>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 seealso" id="refsect1-function.socket-read-seealso">
<h3 class="title">See Also</h3>
<p class="para">
<ul class="simplelist">
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.socket-accept.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">socket_accept()</a> - Accepts a connection on a socket</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.socket-bind.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">socket_bind()</a> - Binds a name to a socket</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.socket-connect.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">socket_connect()</a> - Initiates a connection on a socket</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.socket-listen.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">socket_listen()</a> - Listens for a connection on a socket</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.socket-last-error.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">socket_last_error()</a> - Returns the last error on the socket</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.socket-strerror.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">socket_strerror()</a> - Return a string describing a socket error</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.socket-write.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">socket_write()</a> - Write to a socket</span></li>
</ul>
</p>
</div>
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