(PHP 5 >= 5.1.0, PHP 7, PHP 8)
stream_socket_pair — Creates a pair of connected, indistinguishable socket streams
stream_socket_pair() creates a pair of connected, indistinguishable socket streams. This function is commonly used in IPC (Inter-Process Communication).
domain
       The protocol family to be used: STREAM_PF_INET,
       STREAM_PF_INET6 or
       STREAM_PF_UNIX
      
type
       The type of communication to be used:
       STREAM_SOCK_DGRAM,
       STREAM_SOCK_RAW,
       STREAM_SOCK_RDM,
       STREAM_SOCK_SEQPACKET or
       STREAM_SOCK_STREAM
      
protocol
       The protocol to be used: STREAM_IPPROTO_ICMP,
       STREAM_IPPROTO_IP,
       STREAM_IPPROTO_RAW,
       STREAM_IPPROTO_TCP or
       STREAM_IPPROTO_UDP       
      
Note: Please consult the Streams constant list for further details on each constant.
Example #1 A stream_socket_pair() example
This example shows the basic usage of stream_socket_pair() in Inter-Process Communication.
<?php
$sockets = stream_socket_pair(STREAM_PF_UNIX, STREAM_SOCK_STREAM, STREAM_IPPROTO_IP);
$pid     = pcntl_fork();
if ($pid == -1) {
     die('could not fork');
} else if ($pid) {
     /* parent */
    fclose($sockets[0]);
    fwrite($sockets[1], "child PID: $pid\n");
    echo fgets($sockets[1]);
    fclose($sockets[1]);
} else {
    /* child */
    fclose($sockets[1]);
    fwrite($sockets[0], "message from child\n");
    echo fgets($sockets[0]);
    fclose($sockets[0]);
}
?>The above example will output something similar to:
child PID: 1378 message from child
