Java socket API: How to tell if a connection has been closed?

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There is no TCP API that will tell you the current state of the connection. isConnected() and isClosed() tell you the current state of your socket. Not the same thing.

  1. isConnected() tells you whether you have connected this socket. You have, so it returns true.

  2. isClosed() tells you whether you have closed this socket. Until you have, it returns false.

  3. If the peer has closed the connection in an orderly way

    • read() returns -1
    • readLine() returns null

    • readXXX() throws EOFException for any other XXX.

    • A write will throw an IOException: ‘connection reset by peer’, eventually, subject to buffering delays.

  4. If the connection has dropped for any other reason, a write will throw an IOException, eventually, as above, and a read may do the same thing.

  5. If the peer is still connected but not using the connection, a read timeout can be used.

  6. Contrary to what you may read elsewhere, ClosedChannelException doesn’t tell you this. [Neither does SocketException: socket closed.] It only tells you that you closed the channel, and then continued to use it. In other words, a programming error on your part. It does not indicate a closed connection.

  7. As a result of some experiments with Java 7 on Windows XP it also appears that if:

    • you’re selecting on OP_READ
    • select() returns a value of greater than zero
    • the associated SelectionKey is already invalid (key.isValid() == false)

    it means the peer has reset the connection. However this may be peculiar to either the JRE version or platform.

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