The sendto
function transmits the data in the buffer
through the socket socket to the destination address specified
by the addr and length arguments. The size argument
specifies the number of bytes to be transmitted.
The flags are interpreted the same way as for send
; see
Socket Data Options.
The return value and error conditions are also the same as for
send
, but you cannot rely on the system to detect errors and
report them; the most common error is that the packet is lost or there
is no-one at the specified address to receive it, and the operating
system on your machine usually does not know this.
It is also possible for one call to sendto
to report an error
owing to a problem related to a previous call.
This function is defined as a cancellation point in multi-threaded
programs, so one has to be prepared for this and make sure that
allocated resources (like memory, files descriptors, semaphores or
whatever) are freed even if the thread is canceled.