Socket Programming in PHP

Sockets are used for interprocess communication. Interprocess communication is generally based on client-server model. In this case, client-server are the applications that interact with each other. Interaction between client and server requires a connection. Socket programming is responsible for establishing that connection between applications to interact.

By the end of this tip, we will learn how to create a simple client-server in PHP. We will also learn how client application sends message to server and receives it from the same.

PHP SERVER

SERVER (server.php)

// set some variables
$host = "127.0.0.1";
$port = 25003;
// don't timeout!
set_time_limit(0);
// create socket
$socket = socket_create(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0) or die("Could not create socket\n");
// bind socket to port
$result = socket_bind($socket, $host, $port) or die("Could not bind to socket\n");
// start listening for connections
$result = socket_listen($socket, 3) or die("Could not set up socket listener\n");

// accept incoming connections
// spawn another socket to handle communication
$spawn = socket_accept($socket) or die("Could not accept incoming connection\n");
// read client input
$input = socket_read($spawn, 1024) or die("Could not read input\n");
// clean up input string
$input = trim($input);
echo "Client Message : ".$input;
// reverse client input and send back
$output = strrev($input) . "\n";
socket_write($spawn, $output, strlen ($output)) or die("Could not write output\n");
// close sockets
socket_close($spawn);
socket_close($socket);

CLIENT (client.php)

$host    = "127.0.0.1";
$port    = 25003;
$message = "Hello Server";
echo "Message To server :".$message;
// create socket
$socket = socket_create(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0) or die("Could not create socket\n");
// connect to server
$result = socket_connect($socket, $host, $port) or die("Could not connect to server\n");  
// send string to server
socket_write($socket, $message, strlen($message)) or die("Could not send data to server\n");
// get server response
$result = socket_read ($socket, 1024) or die("Could not read server response\n");
echo "Reply From Server  :".$result;
// close socket
socket_close($socket);

After creating the above files (server.php and client.php), do as follows:

1. Copy these files in www directory (in case of WAMP), located at C:\wamp.
2. Open your web browser and type localhost in the address bar.
3. Browse server.php first followed by client.php.