UNIT - IV

Advanced Perl
Finer points of looping, pack and unpack, file system, eval, data structures, packages, modules,
objects, interfacing to the operating system, Creating Internet ware applications, Dirty Hands
Internet Programming, security Issues.

Finer Points Of Looping

A loop statement allows us to execute a statement or group of statements multiple times and
following is the general form of a loop statement in most of the programming languages −

Perl programming language provides the following types of loop to handle the looping
requirements.

Loop Type Description

Repeats a statement or group of statements while a given

while loop
condition is true. It tests the condition before executing the
loop body.
Repeats a statement or group of statements until a given
until loop
condition becomes true. It tests the condition before executing
the loop body.

1
 for loop Executes a sequence of statements multiple times and
abbreviates the code that manages the loop variable.

foreach loop The foreach loop iterates over a normal list value and
sets the variable VAR to be each element of the list in
turn.

do...while loop Like a while statement, except that it tests the

condition at the end of the loop body
You can use one or more loop inside any another while, for or
nested loops do..while loop.

Loop Control Statements

Loop control statements change the execution from its normal sequence. When execution
leaves a scope, all automatic objects that were created in that scope are destroyed.C
supports the following control statements. Click the following links to check their detail.

Control Statement Description

next statement Causes the loop to skip the remainder of its body and
immediately retest its condition prior to reiterating.
Terminates the loop statement and transfers execution to the
last statement
statement immediately following the loop.

A continue BLOCK, it is always executed just before the

continue statement
conditional is about to be evaluated again.

The redo command restarts the loop block without evaluating

redo statement
the conditional again. The continue block, if any, is not
executed.

goto statement It is used to transfer control by jumping to other label inside a

loop.

2
Infinite Loop
A loop becomes infinite loop if a condition never becomes false. The for loop is traditionally
used for this purpose. Since none of the three expressions that form the for loop are required,
you can make an endless loop by leaving the conditional expression empty.

#!/usr/local/bin/perl

for(;;)
{
printf"This loop will run forever.\n";
}

You can terminate the above infinite loop by pressing the Ctrl + C keys. When the
conditional expression is absent, it is assumed to be true. You may have an initialization
and increment expression, but as a programmer more commonly use the for (;;) construct to
signify an infinite loop.

Multiple Loop Variables:

For loop can iterate over two or more variables

simultaneously. Eg: for($m=1,$n=1,$m<10,$m++,$n+=2)

…….

Here (,) operator is a list constructor, it evaluates its left hand argument.

Pack and Unpack

Pack Function

The pack function evaluates the expressions in LIST and packs them into a binary structure
specified by EXPR. The format is specified using the characters shown in Table below
Each character may be optionally followed by a number, which specifies a repeat count for
the type of value being packed. that is nibbles, chars, or even bits, according to the format.
A value of * repeats for as many values remain in LIST. Values can be unpacked with the

3
unpack function. For example, a5 indicates that five letters are expected. b32 indicates that
32 bits are expected. h8 indicates that 8 nibbles ( or 4 bytes) are expected. P10 indicates
that the structure is 10 bytes long.
Syntax
Following is the simple syntax for this function

pack EXPR, LIST

Return Value

This function returns a packed version of the data in LIST using TEMPLATE to determine
how it is coded.
Here is the table which gives values to be used in TEMPLATE.

Character Description

A ASCII character string padded with null characters

A ASCII character string padded with spaces

B String of bits, lowest first

B String of bits, highest first

C A signed character (range usually -128 to 127)

C An unsigned character (usually 8 bits)

D A double-precision floating-point number

F A single-precision floating-point number

4
H Hexadecimal string, lowest digit first

H Hexadecimal string, highest digit first

I A signed integer

I An unsigned integer

L A signed long integer

L An unsigned long integer

N A short integer in network order

N A long integer in network order

P A pointer to a string

S A signed short integer

S An unsigned short integer

U Convert to uuencode format

V A short integer in VAX (little-endian) order

V A long integer in VAX order

X A null byte

X Indicates "go back one byte"

5
 Fill with nulls (ASCII 0)
@

Example

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

$bits =pack("c",65);
# prints A, which is ASCII
65. print"bits are $bits\n";
$bits =pack("x");
# $bits is now a null chracter.
print"bits are $bits\n";
$bits =pack("sai",255,"T",30);
# creates a seven charcter string on most
computers' print"bits are $bits\n";

@array=unpack("sai","$bits");

#Array now contains three elements: 255, T and 30.

print"Array $array[0]\n";

Following is the example code showing its basic usage

print"Array $array[1]\n";
print"Array $array[2]\n";

When above code is executed, it produces the following result −

bits are A
bits are
bits are
T- Array
255 Array T
Array 30

6
Unpack Function

The unpack function unpacks the binary string STRING using the format specified in
TEMPLATE. Basically reverses the operation of pack, returning the list of packed values
according to the supplied format. You can also prefix any format field with a %<number> to
indicate that you want a 16-bit checksum of the value of STRING, instead of the value.
Syntax

Following is the simple syntax for this function

unpack TEMPLATE, STRING

Return Value

This function returns the list of unpacked values.

Here is the table which gives values to be used in TEMPLATE.

Character Description

A ASCII character string padded with null characters

A ASCII character string padded with spaces

B String of bits, lowest first

B String of bits, highest first

C A signed character (range usually -128 to 127)

C An unsigned character (usually 8 bits)

D A double-precision floating-point number

F A single-precision floating-point number

7
H Hexadecimal string, lowest digit first

H Hexadecimal string, highest digit first

I A signed integer

I An unsigned integer

L A signed long integer

L An unsigned long integer

N A short integer in network order

N A long integer in network order

P A pointer to a string

S A signed short integer

S An unsigned short integer

U Convert to uuencode format

V A short integer in VAX (little-endian) order

V A long integer in VAX order

X A null byte

X Indicates "go back one byte"

8
 @ Fill with nulls (ASCII 0)

Example

Following is the example code showing its basic usage

print"bits are $bits\n";

$bits =pack("x");
# $bits is now a null chracter. print"bits
are $bits\n";
$bits =pack("sai",255,"T",30);
# creates a seven charcter string on
most computers' print"bits are $bits\n";
@array=unpack("sai","$bits");
#Array now contains three elements: 255, A and
47. print"Array $array[0]\n";
print"Array $array[1]\n";

When above code is executed, it produces the following result −

bits
are A
bits
are
bits
are
�T-
Array2

Files

The basics of handling files are simple: you associate a filehandle with an external entity
(usually a file) and then use a variety of operators and functions within Perl to read and update
the data stored within the data stream associated with the filehandle. A filehandle is a named
internal Perl structure that associates a physical file with a name. All filehandles are capable of

9
read/write access, so you can read from and update any file or device associated with a
filehandle. However, when you associate a filehandle, you can specify the mode in which the
filehandle is opened. Three basic file handles are - STDIN, STDOUT, and STDERR, which
represent standard input, standard output and standard error devices respectively. Opening and
Closing Files

There are following two functions with multiple forms, which can be used to open any new or
existing file in Perl.

open FILEHANDLE,
EXPR open
FILEHANDLE
sysopen FILEHANDLE, FILENAME, MODE,
PERMS sysopen FILEHANDLE, FILENAME,

Here FILEHANDLE is the file handle returned by the open function and EXPR is the
expression having file name and mode of opening the file.

Open Function

Following is the syntax to open file.txt in read-only mode. Here less than < sign indicates that
file has to be opend in read-only mode.

open(DATA,"<file.txt");

Here DATA is the file handle which will be used to read the file. Here is the example which
will open a file and will print its content over the screen.

#!/usr/bin/perl
open(DATA,"<file.txt")ordie"Couldn't open file file.txt, $!";
while(<DATA>)
{
print"$_";
}

10
 Following is the syntax to open file.txt in writing mode. Here less than > sign indicates that
file has to be opened in the writing mode.

open(DATA,">file.txt")ordie"Couldn't open file file.txt, $!";

This example actually truncates (empties) the file before opening it for writing, which may not
be the desired effect. If you want to open a file for reading and writing, you can put a plus
sign before the > or < characters.
For example, to open a file for updating without truncating it

open(DATA,"+<file.txt");ordie"Couldn't open file file.txt, $!";

To truncate the file first

open DATA,"+>file.txt"ordie"Couldn't open file file.txt, $!";

You can open a file in the append mode. In this mode writing point will be set to the end
of the file.

open(DATA,">>file.txt")||die"Couldn't open file file.txt, $!";

A double >> opens the file for appending, placing the file pointer at the end, so that you can
immediately start appending information. However, you can't read from it unless you also
place a plus sign in front of it

open(DATA,"+>>file.txt")||die"Couldn't open file file.txt, $!";

Following is the table which gives the possible values of different modes.

Entities Definition

< or r Read Only Access

> or w Creates, Writes, and Truncates

11
>> or a Writes, Appends, and Creates

+< or r+ Reads and Writes

+> or w+ Reads, Writes, Creates, and Truncates

+>> or a+ Reads, Writes, Appends, and Creates

Sysopen Function

The sysopen function is similar to the main open function, except that it uses the system open()
function, using the parameters supplied to it as the parameters for the system function For
example, to open a file for updating, emulating the +<filename format from open

sysopen(DATA,"file.txt", O_RDWR);

Or to truncate the file before updating

sysopen(DATA,"file.txt", O_RDWR|O_TRUNC );

You can use O_CREAT to create a new file and O_WRONLY- to open file in write only mode
and O_RDONLY - to open file in read only mode. The PERMS argument specifies the file
permissions for the file specified if it has to be created. By default it takes 0x666.Following is

Entities Definition

O_RDWR Read and Write

O_RDONLY Read Only

O_WRONLY Write Only

the table, which gives the possible values of MODE.

12
 O_CREAT Create the file

O_APPEND Append the file

O_TRUNC Truncate the file

O_EXCL Stops if file already exists

O_NONBLOCK Non-Blocking usability

Close Function
To close a filehandle, and therefore disassociate the filehandle from the corresponding file, you
use the close function. This flushes the filehandle's buffers and closes the system's file
descriptor.

close
FILEHANDLE
close

If no FILEHANDLE is specified, then it closes the currently selected filehandle. It returns

true only if it could successfully flush the buffers and close the file.

close(DATA)||die"Couldn't close file properly";

Reading and Writing Files

Once you have an open filehandle, you need to be able to read and write information. There
are a number of different ways of reading and writing data into the file.
The<FILEHANDLE> Operator

The main method of reading the information from an open filehandle is the
<FILEHANDLE> operator. In a scalar context, it returns a single line from the filehandle.
For example

13
#!/usr/bin/perl

print"What is your name?\n";

$name =<STDIN>;
print"Hello $name\n";

When you use the <FILEHANDLE> operator in a list context, it returns a list of lines from
the specified filehandle. For example, to import all the lines from a file into an array

#!/usr/bin/perl

open(DATA,"<import.txt")ordie"Can't open data";

@lines=<DATA
>;
close(DATA);

getc Function
The getc function returns a single character from the specified FILEHANDLE, or STDIN if
none is specified

getc FILEHANDLE
getc

If there was an error, or the filehandle is at end of file, then undef is returned instead.

Read Function
The read function reads a block of information from the buffered filehandle This function is
used to read binary data from the file.

read FILEHANDLE, SCALAR, LENGTH,

OFFSET
read FILEHANDLE, SCALAR, LENGTH

The length of the data read is defined by LENGTH, and the data is placed at the start of SCALAR
if no OFFSET is specified. Otherwise data is placed after OFFSET bytes in SCALAR. The
function returns the number of bytes read on success, zero at end of file, or undef if there was an
error.

14
print Function
For all the different methods used for reading information from filehandles, the main
function for writing information back is the print function.

print FILEHANDLE LIST

print
LIST print

The print function prints the evaluated value of LIST to FILEHANDLE, or to the
current output filehandle (STDOUT by default). For example

print "Hello
World!\n";

Copying FilesHere is the example, which opens an existing file file1.txt and read it line by
line and generate another copy file file2.txt.

#!/usr/bin/perl

# Open file to read

open(DATA1,"<file1.txt");
# Open new file to write
open(DATA2,">file2.txt");

# Copy data from one file to another.

while(<DATA1>)
{
print DATA2 $_;
}

}
close( DATA1 );
close( DATA2 );

Renamingafile
Here is an example, which shows how we can rename a file file1.txt to file2.txt. Assuming file is

#!/usr/bin/perl
rename("/usr/test/file1|Page.txt","/usr/test/file2.txt");
15
 available in /usr/test directory.

This function renames the takes two arguments and it just rename existing file.

Deletingan Existing File

Here is an example, which shows how to delete a file file1.txt using the unlink function.

#!/usr/bin/perl
unlink("/usr/test/file1.txt");

Positioning inside a File

You can use to tell function to know the current position of a file and seek function to point a
particular position inside the file.

Tell Function
The first requirement is to find your position within a file, which you do using the tell function.

This returns the position of the file pointer, in bytes, within FILEHANDLE if specified, or the
current default selected filehandle if none is specified.

tell FILEHANDLE
tell

Seek Function
The seek function positions the file pointer to the specified number of bytes within a file The

seek FILEHANDLE, POSITION, WHENCE

function uses the fseek system function, and you have the same ability to position relative to three
different points: the start, the end, and the current position. You do this by specifying a value for

WHENCE. Zero sets the positioning relative to the start of the file. For example, the line sets the file
pointer to the 256th byte in the file.

16
 seek DATA, 256, 0;

File Information
You can test certain features very quickly within Perl using a series of test operators known
collectively as -X tests. For example, to perform a quick test of the various permissions on
a file, you might use a script like this

#/usr/bin/perl
my $file ="/usr/test/file1.txt";
my(@description, $size);
if(-e $file)
{
push@description,'binary'if(-B _);

push@description,'a socket'if(-S _);

push@description,'a text file'if(-T _);
push@description,'a block special file'if(-b _);
push@description,'a character special file'if(-c _);
push@description,'a directory'if(-d _);
push@description,'executable'if(-x _);
push@description,(($size =-s _))?"$size
bytes":'empty'; print"$file is ", join(',
',@description),"\n";
}
Here is the list of features, which you can check for a file or directory −

Operator Definition

-A Script start time minus file last access time, in days.

-B Is it a binary file?

-C Script start time minus file last inode change time, in days.

17
-M Script start time minus file modification time, in days.

-O Is the file owned by the real user ID?

-R Is the file readable by the real user ID or real group?

-S Is the file a socket?

-T Is it a text file?

-W Is the file writable by the real user ID or real group?

-X Is the file executable by the real user ID or real group?

-b Is it a block special file?

-c Is it a character special file?

-d Is the file a directory?

-e Does the file exist?

-f Is it a plain file?

-g Does the file have the setgid bit set?

-k Does the file have the sticky bit set?

-l Is the file a symbolic link?

-o Is the file owned by the effective user ID?

18
 -p Is the file a named pipe?

-r Is the file readable by the effective user or group ID?

-s Returns the size of the file, zero size = empty file.

-t Is the filehandle opened by a TTY (terminal)?

-u Does the file have the setuid bit set?

-w Is the file writable by the effective user or group ID?

-x Is the file executable by the effective user or group ID?

-z Is the file size zero?

EVAL
The eval operator comes in 2 forms
In the first form ,eval takes an arbitrary string as an operand and evaluates the string and
executed in the current context.
The value returned is the value of the last expression evaluated.In case of syntax error or
runtime error,eval returns the value “undefined” and places the error in the variable $@
Ex:
$myvar =’ …’;
….
$value = eval “ \$$myvar “;
In the second form ,it takes a block as an argument and the block is compiled only once.
If there is a runtime error,the error is returned in $@. Instead of try we use eval and
instead of catch we test $@
Ex:
Eval
{
…….

19
 }
If ($@ ne ‘ ‘)
{
……..
}

Data Structures
Arrays Of Arrays
In perl a two dimensional array is constructed by creating an array of references to
anonymous arrays.
For ex: @colors = ( [35,39,43] , [4,5,8] , [32,31,25] ) ;
The array composer converts each comma-separated list to an anonymous array in memory
and returns a reference and when we write an exp. Like
$colors [0][1] = 64;
$colors [0] is a reference to an array and 2nd subscript represents the element present in
that array. A two dimensional array can be dynamically created by using PUSH operator
to add a reference to an anonymous array to the top level array. For ex: we are interested
in converting a table set of data having white spaces between the fields can be converted
to two dimensional array by repeteadly using split to put the fields of a line into list and
then using push to add the reference to an array.
While (<STDIN>)
{
Push @table , [split]
}
COMPLEX DATA STRUCTURES
Not only an array of arrays can be created but we can create hashes of hashes ,arrays of
hashes and hashes of arrays. By combining all these possibilities ,data structures of great
complexity can be created ex: doubly linked list. We can make an element of the array a
hash containing three fields with keys ‘L’(left neighbour) ,’ R’(right neighbour) and
‘C’(content). The values related to L and R are references to element hashes and the value
of C can be anything(scalar,variables,hash ,reference).
Ex:

20
 We can move forwards along the list with
$current = $current->{‘R’} ; And backwards with
$current = $current->{‘L’} ; Create a new element
$new = { L =>undef , R=>undef , C=>…} ;
And we can insert new element after current element as
$new->{‘R’}=$current->{‘R’} ; $current{‘R’}-
>{‘L’}= $new; $current{‘R’}=$new ;

$new->{‘L’} = $current ;
And the current element can be deleted as
$current->{‘L’}->{‘R’} = $current->{‘R’} ;
$current->{‘R’}->{‘L’} = $current->{‘L’} ;
Packages
Packages are the basis for libraries, modules and objects. It is the unit of code with its own
namespace(i.e. separate symbol table),which determines bindings of names both at compile-
time and run-time. Initially code runs in default package main. Variables used in a package are
global to that package only.
Ex:$A::x is the variable x in package A. Package A ;
$x = 0;
……. Package B ;
$x = 1 ;
……. Package A ; Print $x;
output: zero.
The package B declaration switches to a different symbol table then the package A points
to the original symbol table having $x =0;.
Nested packages can be created of the form A::B provided the variables should be of the
fully qualified form Ex>$A::B::x.
A package can have one or more BEGIN routines and also END routines. Package
declaration is rarely used on its own.

Modules
Libraries and modules are packages contained within a single file and are units of program
reusability. The power of perl is increased by the usage of modules that provide functionality

21
in specific application areas. To be fact module is nothing but a package contained in a
separate file whose name is same as the package name with the extension .pm and makes use
of built-in-support. The use of modules make mathematical routines in the library math.p1 are
converted into a module math.pm and can be written as Ex: Use math ; at the start of the
program and the subroutines are available .The subroutine names imported are those defined in
the export list of the math module and it is possible to suppress the import of names but loses
the point of the module.
Ex: use IO : : File ;
Indicates a requirement for the module File.pm which will be found in a directory called
IO.
The use of “ use math (‘sin’ , ‘cos’ , ‘tan’ )“ is same as BEGIN {Require “ Math.pm” ;
Math :: import ( ‘sin’ , ‘cos’ , ‘tan’ );}
The module names are imported by calling the import() method defined in the module. The
package writer is free to define import() in any way.
Objects
Objects in Perl provide a similar functionality as objects in real object oriented
programming (OOP), but in a different way. They use the same terminology as OOP, but
the words have different meanings as given below.


Object: An object with in Perl is a reference to a data type that knows what class it
belongs to. The object is stored as a reference in a scalar variable. The object is
said to be blessed into a class: this is done by calling the built in function bless in a

constructor.
 
 Constructor: A constructor is just a subroutine that returns a reference to an object.

Class:A class is a package that provides methods to deal with objects that belong
to it.
Method: A method is a subroutine that expects an object reference as its first
argument.

Constructors
Objects are created by a constructor subroutine which is generally called
new. Eg.Package Animal;

22
 sub new { my $ref ={ };
bless ref; return ref;
}
The flower brackets { } returns a reference to an anonymous hash. So the new constructor
returns a reference to an object that is an empty hash, and knows that it belongs to the package
Animal.
Instances
We can create the instances for the object with this defined constructor
as $Dougal = new Animal;
$Ermyntrude = new Animal;
This makes $Dougal and $Ermyntrude references to objects that are empty hashes, and
know that they belong to the Animal class.
Method Invocation
Perl supports two syntactic forms for invoking methods one is by using arrow operator and
another one is by using Indirect objects. If a class is used to invoke the method, that argument
will be the name of the class. If an object is used to invoke the method, that argument will be
the reference to the object. Whichever it is, we'll call it the method's invocant. For a class
method, the invocant is the name of a package. For an instance method, the invocant is a
reference that specifies an object.
Method Invocation Using the Arrow Operator:
For example if set_species, get_species are the methods they can be invoked using arrow
operator as follows.
$Dougal -> set_species ‘Dog’;
$Dougal_is ->= $Dougal->get_species;
Method Invocation Using Indirect Objects:
The methods can be invoked by using indirect objects as given below set_species $Dougal,
‘Dog’;
$Dougal_is = get _species $Dougal;
Attributes
Subroutine declarations and definitions may optionally have attribute lists associated with
them. An attribute is a piece of data belonging to a particular object. Unlike most object-

23
oriented languages, Perl provides no special syntax or support for declaring and
manipulating attributes. Attributes are often stored in the object itself. For example, if the
object is an anonymous hash, we can store the attribute values in the hash using the
attribute name as the key.
E.g: sub species
{
my $self =shift;
my $was = $self->{‘species’};
----------
--------
}
Class Methods And Attributes
There are operations that are relevant to the class and not need to operate on a specific instance
are called class methods or static methods. Similarly attributes that are common to all instances
of a class are called as class attributes. Class attributes are just package global variables and
class methods are just subroutines that do not require an object reference as the first argument
e.g the new constructor.
Inheritance
Perl only provides method inheritance. Inheritance is realized by including a special array
@ISA in the package that defines the derived class. For single inheritance @ISA is an array of
one element, the name of the base class. Multiple inheritance can be realized by making @Isa
an array of more than one element. Each element in the array @ISA is the name of the another
package that is being used as a class. If a method cannot be found, the packages referenced in
@Isa are recursively searched, depth first. The current class is derived class and those
referenced in @ISA are the base classes.
e.g : package Employee; use Person;
use strict;
our @ISA = qw(Person); # inherits from Person
Interfacing to the OS:
Creating Internet Ware Applications
The internet is a rich source of information, held on web servers, FTP servers, POP/IMAP

24
mail servers, news servers etc. A web browser can access information on web servers and
FTP servers, and clients access mail and news servers. however, this is not the way of to
the information: an 'internet-aware' application can access a server and collect the
information without manual intervention. For suppose that a website offers 'lookup' facility
in which the user a query by filling in a then clicks the 'submit' button . the data from the
form in sent to a CGI program on the server(probably written in which retrieves the
information, formats it as a webpage, and returns the page to the browser. A perl
application can establish a connection to the server, send the request in the format that the
browser would use, collect the returned HTML and then extract the fields that form the
answer to the query. In the same way, a perl application can establish a connection to a
POP3 mail server and send a request which will result in the server returning a message
listing the number of currently unread messages.
Much of the power of scripting languages comes from the way in which they hide the
complexity of operations, and this is particularly the case when we make use of specialized
modules: tasks that might pages of code in C are achieved in few lines. The LWP (library
for WWW access in perl) collection of modules is a very good case in point it makes the
kind of interaction described above almost trivial. The LWP:: simple module is a interface
to web servers. It can be achieved by exploiting modules, LWP::simple we can retrieve the
contents of a web page in a statement:
use LWP::simple $url=...http://www.somesite.com/index.html..;
$page=get($url);
Dirty Hands Internet Programming:
Modules like LWP: : Simple and LWP: :User Agent meet the needs of most programmers
requiring web access, and there are numerous other modules for other types of Internet
access.
EX:- Net: : FTP for access to FTP servers
Some tasks may require a lower level of access to the network, and this is provided by Perl
both in the form of modules(e.g IO: : Socket) and at an even lower level by built-in
functions. Support for network programming in perl is so complete that you can use the
language to write any conceivable internet application Access to the internet at this level
involves the use of sockets, and we explain what a socket is before getting down to details
of the programming. Sockets are network communication channels, providing a bi-

25
directional channel between processes on different machines. Sockets were originally a
feature of UNIX other UNIX systems adopted them and the socket became the de facto
mechanism of network communication in the UNIX world.
The popular Winsock provided similar functionality for Windows, allowing Windows
systems to communicate over the network with UNIX systems, and sockets are a built-in
feature of Windows 9X and WindowsNT4.From the Perl programmer’s point a network
socket can be treated like an open file it is identified by a you write to it with print, and
read it from operator. The socket interface is based on the TCP/IP protocol suite, so that all
information is handled automatically. In TCP a reliable channel, with automatic recovery
from data loss or corruption: for this reason a TCP connection is often described as a
virtual circuit. The socket in Perl is an exact mirror of the UNIX and also permits
connections using UDP(Unreliable Datagram Protocol).

26