CONNECT Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (2) Updated: 3 Oct 2025 Index   NAME connect - initiate a connection on a socket   SYNOPSIS #include <sys/types.h> #include <sys/socket.h> int connect(int sockfd, const struct sockaddr *serv_addr, socklen_t addrlen);   DESCRIPTION The file descriptor sockfd must refer to a socket. If the socket is of type SOCK_DGRAM then the serv_addr address is the address to which datagrams are sent by default, and the only address from which datagrams are received. If the socket is of type SOCK_STREAM or SOCK_SEQPACKET, this call attempts to make a connection to another socket. The other socket is specified by serv_addr, which is an address (of length addrlen) in the communications space of the socket. Each communications space interprets the serv_addr parameter in its own way. Generally, connection-based protocol sockets may successfully connect only once; connectionless protocol sockets may use connect multiple times to change their association. Connectionless sockets may dissolve the association by connecting to an address with the sa_family member of sockaddr set to AF_UNSPEC.   RETURN VALUE If the connection or binding succeeds, zero is returned. On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately.   ERRORS The following are general socket errors only. There may be other domain-specific error codes. EBADF Bad descriptor. EFAULT The socket structure address is outside the user's address space. ENOTSOCK The descriptor is not associated with a socket. EISCONN The socket is already connected. ECONNREFUSED Connection refused at server. ETIMEDOUT Timeout while attempting connection. The server may be too busy to accept new connections. ENETUNREACH Network is unreachable. EADDRINUSE Address is already in use. EINPROGRESS The socket is non-blocking and the connection cannot be completed immediately. It is possible to or for completion by selecting the socket for writing. After select indicates writability, use to read the SO_ERROR option at level SOL_SOCKET to determine whether connect completed successfully (SO_ERROR is zero) or unsuccessfully (SO_ERROR is one of the usual error codes listed here, explaining the reason for the failure). EALREADY The socket is non-blocking and a previous connection attempt has not yet been completed. EAGAIN No more free local ports or insufficient entries in the routing cache. For PF_INET see the net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range sysctl in on how to increase the number of local ports. EAFNOSUPPORT The passed address didn't have the correct address family in its sa_family field. EACCES, EPERM The user tried to connect to a broadcast address without having the socket broadcast flag enabled or the connection request failed because of a local firewall rule.   CONFORMING TO SVr4, 4.4BSD (the connect function first appeared in BSD 4.2). SVr4 documents the additional general error codes EADDRNOTAVAIL, EINVAL, EAFNOSUPPORT, EALREADY, EINTR, EPROTOTYPE, and ENOSR. It also documents many additional error conditions not described here.   NOTE The third argument of connect is in reality an int (and this is what BSD 4.* and libc4 and libc5 have). Some POSIX confusion resulted in the present socklen_t. The draft standard has not been adopted yet, but glibc2 already follows it and also has socklen_t. See also   SEE ALSO   Index NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION RETURN VALUE ERRORS CONFORMING TO NOTE SEE ALSO This document was created by using the manual pages. Time: 11:56:05 GMT, March 24, 2025