# nn_symbol_info(3) Manual Page

## NAME

nn_symbol_info - query the names and properties of nanomsg symbols

## SYNOPSIS

#include <nanomsg/nn.h>

int nn_symbol_info (int i, struct nn_symbol_properties *buf, int buflen);

## DESCRIPTION

Retrieves the symbol name and value at index i. Indices start at 0. An index has no significance to its associated symbol; the mappings may change between library versions.

The nn_symbol_properties has the following definition:

    struct nn_symbol_properties {

        /*  The constant value  */
        int value;

        /*  The constant name  */
        const char* name;

        /*  The constant namespace, or zero for namespaces themselves */
        int ns;

        /*  The option type for socket option constants  */
        int type;

        /*  The unit for the option value for socket option constants  */
        int unit;
    };

More structure members may be added in future, but the input pointer will be written only up to buflen so the ABI is forward-compatible.

Typically a client will iterate through the symbols until nn_symbol_info returns NULL in order to collect all the symbols.

All symbols exposed by nn_symbol_info are available directly in the C API, generally as preprocessor macros. Thus, this function is useful mostly for language bindings that can’t parse the header file and rely on retrieving the symbols at runtime.

Note that the NN_MSG symbol is not exported by the nn_symbol_info function. First, it is a pointer rather than an integer; second, the symbol is not supposed to be exported from language bindings to the user. Instead, language bindings should provide the zero-copy functionality in a language-specific way, if at all (zero-copy functionality may not make sense for some languages/bindings).

## AVAILABLE NAMESPACES

NN_NS_NAMESPACE

  Equals to zero and denotes the NN_NS_* constants themselves

NN_NS_VERSION

  Nanomsg version constants

NN_NS_DOMAIN

  Socket domain (or address family) constants AF_SP, AF_SP_RAW

NN_NS_TRANSPORT

  Transport name constants (used for socket options mainly)

NN_NS_PROTOCOL

  Socket protocol constants

NN_NS_OPTION_LEVEL

  Socket option level constants (NN_SOL_SOCKET)

NN_NS_SOCKET_OPTION

  Socket options for NN_SOL_SOCKET level

NN_NS_TRANSPORT_OPTION

  Socket options for transport level (used with transport constants)

NN_NS_OPTION_TYPE

  The option types (described below)

NN_NS_FLAG

  The nn_send/nn_recv flags (only NN_DONTWAIT for now)

NN_NS_ERROR

  The errno values

NN_NS_LIMIT

  Various nanomsg limits (only NN_SOCKADDR_MAX for now)

NN_NS_EVENT

  Event flags (bit mask) for use with nn_poll (NN_POLLIN, NN_POLLOUT)

## AVAILABLE OPTION TYPES

NN_TYPE_NONE

  No type, is returned for constants that are not socket options

NN_TYPE_INT

  The integer type

NN_TYPE_STR

  String (char *) type

More types may be added in the future to nanomsg. You may enumerate all of them using the nn_symbol_info itself by checking NN_NS_OPTION_TYPE namespace.

## AVAILABLE OPTION UNITS

NN_UNIT_NONE

  No unit, is returned for constants that are not socket options, or do not have any meaningful unit (strings, integer values)

NN_UNIT_BYTES

  The option value is expressed in bytes

NN_UNIT_MILLISECONDS

  The option value is expressed in milliseconds

NN_UNIT_PRIORITY

  The option value is a priority, an integer from 1 to 16

NN_UNIT_BOOLEAN

  The option value is boolean, an integer 0 or 1

More types may be added in the future to nanomsg. You may enumerate all of them using the nn_symbol_info itself by checking NN_NS_OPTION_TYPE namespace.

## RETURN VALUE

If i is valid, returns the number of bytes stored at the structure. The maximum value that can be returned is buflen.

If i is out-of-range, nn_symbol_info returns zero.

## EXAMPLE

    int i;
    for (i = 0; ; ++i) {
        struct nn_symbol_properties sym;
        int rc = nn_symbol_info (i, &sym, sizeof (sym));
        if(rc == 0)
            break;
        assert (rc == sizeof (sym));
        printf ("'%s' = %d\n", sym.name, sym.value);
    }

## SEE ALSO

nn_symbol(3) nn_errno(3) nn_strerror(3) nanomsg(7)

## AUTHORS

Paul Colomiets Garrett D’Amore