socketR lets you work with network sockets directly from R on Linux. It supports common TCP, UDP, and Unix-domain socket workflows, with both function-based and object-oriented APIs.
Web documentation: https://sassoftware.github.io/socketr/
## CRAN
install.packages('socketR')
## install release from r-universe
install.packages('socketR', repos = c('https://sassoftware.r-universe.dev', 'https://cloud.r-project.org'))
## dev version
remotes::install_github("sassoftware/socketr")Example: TCP loopback
library("socketR")
server <- socket_create("inet", "stream")
socket_reuse_address(server, TRUE)
socket_bind(server, "127.0.0.1", 0)
port <- socket_local_name(server)$port
socket_listen(server)
client <- socket_create("inet", "stream")
socket_connect(client, "127.0.0.1", port)
peer <- socket_accept(server)
socket_send(client, "hello")
rawToChar(socket_receive(peer, 5))
socket_close(peer); socket_close(client); socket_close(server)Datagram and Unix-domain sockets
Use socket_create("inet", "dgram") with socket_send_to() and socket_receive_from() for TCP/UDP. Use socket_create("unix", "stream") and pass a filesystem path as address to socket_bind() / socket_connect() for Unix-domain sockets.
Polling and options
socket_poll(list(client, peer), events = "read", timeout_ms = 1000)
socket_set_blocking(client, FALSE)
socket_no_delay(client, TRUE)
socket_quick_ack(client, TRUE) # Linux when TCP_QUICKACK is available
socket_receive_timeout(client, 0.5)Generic options are available through socket_get_option() and socket_set_option() with typed values: int, logical, timeval, linger, or raw.
Multiple options can be applied in order with socket_set_options(). If one fails, the socketr_option_batch_error condition reports the failed option and the options already applied.
R6 API
s <- Socket$new("inet", "stream")
s$bind("127.0.0.1", 0)$listen()
s$close()