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Experiment No. 06 IPC Using Pipe

1. The document discusses inter-process communication (IPC) using pipes in Linux. Pipes allow data to be passed between two programs without invoking a shell. 2. The pipe() system call is used to create pipes. It returns two file descriptors - data written to one can be read from the other. 3. The write() and read() system calls are used to write data to and read data from pipes. They transfer data between the file descriptor for a pipe and a buffer in the program.

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Joona John
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216 views3 pages

Experiment No. 06 IPC Using Pipe

1. The document discusses inter-process communication (IPC) using pipes in Linux. Pipes allow data to be passed between two programs without invoking a shell. 2. The pipe() system call is used to create pipes. It returns two file descriptors - data written to one can be read from the other. 3. The write() and read() system calls are used to write data to and read data from pipes. They transfer data between the file descriptor for a pipe and a buffer in the program.

Uploaded by

Joona John
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Operating System Laboratory

Experiment Number: 06
TITLE: Inter-process Communication (IPC) in Linux using Pipes.

OBJECTIVE:

1. To study use of pipes Linux.


2. To study inter-process communication in Linux.

THEORY:

The Pipe Call

The lower-level pipe( ) function provides a means of passing data between two programs,
without the overhead of invoking a shell to interpret the requested command. It also gives us
more control over the reading and writing of data.

The pipe function has the following prototype:

#include <unistd.h>
int pipe(int file_descriptor[2]);

It is passed (a pointer to) an array of two integer file descriptors. It fills the array with two
new file descriptors and returns a zero. On failure, it returns -1 and sets errno to indicate the
reason for failure. Errors defined in the Linux manual page for pipe (in section 2 of the manual)
are
❑ EMFILE: Too many file descriptors are in use by the process.
❑ ENFILE: The system file table is full.
❑ EFAULT: The file descriptor is not valid.
The two file descriptors returned are connected in a special way. Any data written to
file_descriptor[1]can be read back from file_descriptor[0]. The data is processed in a first in, first
out basis. This means that if we write the bytes 1, 2, 3 to file_descriptor[1], reading
fromfile_descriptor[0] will produce 1, 2, 3. The illustration is given as below:

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Experiment No. 06
Operating System Laboratory

Each running program, called a process, has a number of file descriptors associated with
it. These are small integers that we can use to access open files or devices. How many of these
are available will vary depending on how the system has been configured. When a program
starts, it usually has three of these descriptors already opened. These are:

❑ 0: Standard input
❑ 1: Standard output
❑ 2: Standard error

We can associate other file descriptors with files and devices by using the open system
call. The file descriptors that are automatically opened, however, already allow you to create
some simple programs using write.

The write( ) system call

The write system call arranges for the first nbytes bytes from buf to be written to the file
associated with the file descriptor fildes. It returns the number of bytes actually written. This may
be less than nbytes if there has been an error in the file descriptor or if the underlying device
driver is sensitive to block size. If the function returns 0, it means no data was written; if it
returns –1, there has been an error in the write call, and the error will be specified in the errno
global variable.

#include <unistd.h>
size_t write(int fildes, const void *buf, size_t nbytes);

The read( ) system call

The read system call reads up to nbytes bytes of data from the file associated with the file
descriptor fildes and places them in the data area buf. It returns the number of data bytes actually
read, which may be less than the number requested. If a read call returns 0, it had nothing to
read; it reached the end of the file. Again, an error on the call will cause it to return –1.

#include <unistd.h>
size_t read(int fildes, void *buf, size_t nbytes);

ALGORITHM:

PROGRAM (With output and Comments):

CONCLUSION (At least three points):

ASSIGNMENTS:

1. Explain the use of | operator with the example of multiple commands. (At least three
examples with practical demonstration is expected).
2. What is difference between pipe and shared memory implementation in Linux IPC?

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Experiment No. 06
Operating System Laboratory

REFERENCES:

1. “Beginning Linux Programming” by Neil Mathew and Richard Stones, Wrox


Publications.
2. “Operating System Internals and Design Principals” by William Stallings, Pearson
Education.

Tushar B Kute
http://tusharkute.com

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Experiment No. 06

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