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+[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/redis/hiredis.png)](https://travis-ci.org/redis/hiredis)
+
+# HIREDIS
+
+Hiredis is a minimalistic C client library for the [Redis](http://redis.io/) database.
+
+It is minimalistic because it just adds minimal support for the protocol, but
+at the same time it uses a high level printf-alike API in order to make it
+much higher level than otherwise suggested by its minimal code base and the
+lack of explicit bindings for every Redis command.
+
+Apart from supporting sending commands and receiving replies, it comes with
+a reply parser that is decoupled from the I/O layer. It
+is a stream parser designed for easy reusability, which can for instance be used
+in higher level language bindings for efficient reply parsing.
+
+Hiredis only supports the binary-safe Redis protocol, so you can use it with any
+Redis version >= 1.2.0.
+
+The library comes with multiple APIs. There is the
+*synchronous API*, the *asynchronous API* and the *reply parsing API*.
+
+## UPGRADING
+
+Version 0.9.0 is a major overhaul of hiredis in every aspect. However, upgrading existing
+code using hiredis should not be a big pain. The key thing to keep in mind when
+upgrading is that hiredis >= 0.9.0 uses a `redisContext*` to keep state, in contrast to
+the stateless 0.0.1 that only has a file descriptor to work with.
+
+## Synchronous API
+
+To consume the synchronous API, there are only a few function calls that need to be introduced:
+
+```c
+redisContext *redisConnect(const char *ip, int port);
+void *redisCommand(redisContext *c, const char *format, ...);
+void freeReplyObject(void *reply);
+```
+
+### Connecting
+
+The function `redisConnect` is used to create a so-called `redisContext`. The
+context is where Hiredis holds state for a connection. The `redisContext`
+struct has an integer `err` field that is non-zero when the connection is in
+an error state. The field `errstr` will contain a string with a description of
+the error. More information on errors can be found in the **Errors** section.
+After trying to connect to Redis using `redisConnect` you should
+check the `err` field to see if establishing the connection was successful:
+```c
+redisContext *c = redisConnect("127.0.0.1", 6379);
+if (c != NULL && c->err) {
+ printf("Error: %s\n", c->errstr);
+ // handle error
+}
+```
+
+### Sending commands
+
+There are several ways to issue commands to Redis. The first that will be introduced is
+`redisCommand`. This function takes a format similar to printf. In the simplest form,
+it is used like this:
+```c
+reply = redisCommand(context, "SET foo bar");
+```
+
+The specifier `%s` interpolates a string in the command, and uses `strlen` to
+determine the length of the string:
+```c
+reply = redisCommand(context, "SET foo %s", value);
+```
+When you need to pass binary safe strings in a command, the `%b` specifier can be
+used. Together with a pointer to the string, it requires a `size_t` length argument
+of the string:
+```c
+reply = redisCommand(context, "SET foo %b", value, (size_t) valuelen);
+```
+Internally, Hiredis splits the command in different arguments and will
+convert it to the protocol used to communicate with Redis.
+One or more spaces separates arguments, so you can use the specifiers
+anywhere in an argument:
+```c
+reply = redisCommand(context, "SET key:%s %s", myid, value);
+```
+
+### Using replies
+
+The return value of `redisCommand` holds a reply when the command was
+successfully executed. When an error occurs, the return value is `NULL` and
+the `err` field in the context will be set (see section on **Errors**).
+Once an error is returned the context cannot be reused and you should set up
+a new connection.
+
+The standard replies that `redisCommand` are of the type `redisReply`. The
+`type` field in the `redisReply` should be used to test what kind of reply
+was received:
+
+* **`REDIS_REPLY_STATUS`**:
+ * The command replied with a status reply. The status string can be accessed using `reply->str`.
+ The length of this string can be accessed using `reply->len`.
+
+* **`REDIS_REPLY_ERROR`**:
+ * The command replied with an error. The error string can be accessed identical to `REDIS_REPLY_STATUS`.
+
+* **`REDIS_REPLY_INTEGER`**:
+ * The command replied with an integer. The integer value can be accessed using the
+ `reply->integer` field of type `long long`.
+
+* **`REDIS_REPLY_NIL`**:
+ * The command replied with a **nil** object. There is no data to access.
+
+* **`REDIS_REPLY_STRING`**:
+ * A bulk (string) reply. The value of the reply can be accessed using `reply->str`.
+ The length of this string can be accessed using `reply->len`.
+
+* **`REDIS_REPLY_ARRAY`**:
+ * A multi bulk reply. The number of elements in the multi bulk reply is stored in
+ `reply->elements`. Every element in the multi bulk reply is a `redisReply` object as well
+ and can be accessed via `reply->element[..index..]`.
+ Redis may reply with nested arrays but this is fully supported.
+
+Replies should be freed using the `freeReplyObject()` function.
+Note that this function will take care of freeing sub-reply objects
+contained in arrays and nested arrays, so there is no need for the user to
+free the sub replies (it is actually harmful and will corrupt the memory).
+
+**Important:** the current version of hiredis (0.10.0) frees replies when the
+asynchronous API is used. This means you should not call `freeReplyObject` when
+you use this API. The reply is cleaned up by hiredis _after_ the callback
+returns. This behavior will probably change in future releases, so make sure to
+keep an eye on the changelog when upgrading (see issue #39).
+
+### Cleaning up
+
+To disconnect and free the context the following function can be used:
+```c
+void redisFree(redisContext *c);
+```
+This function immediately closes the socket and then frees the allocations done in
+creating the context.
+
+### Sending commands (cont'd)
+
+Together with `redisCommand`, the function `redisCommandArgv` can be used to issue commands.
+It has the following prototype:
+```c
+void *redisCommandArgv(redisContext *c, int argc, const char **argv, const size_t *argvlen);
+```
+It takes the number of arguments `argc`, an array of strings `argv` and the lengths of the
+arguments `argvlen`. For convenience, `argvlen` may be set to `NULL` and the function will
+use `strlen(3)` on every argument to determine its length. Obviously, when any of the arguments
+need to be binary safe, the entire array of lengths `argvlen` should be provided.
+
+The return value has the same semantic as `redisCommand`.
+
+### Pipelining
+
+To explain how Hiredis supports pipelining in a blocking connection, there needs to be
+understanding of the internal execution flow.
+
+When any of the functions in the `redisCommand` family is called, Hiredis first formats the
+command according to the Redis protocol. The formatted command is then put in the output buffer
+of the context. This output buffer is dynamic, so it can hold any number of commands.
+After the command is put in the output buffer, `redisGetReply` is called. This function has the
+following two execution paths:
+
+1. The input buffer is non-empty:
+ * Try to parse a single reply from the input buffer and return it
+ * If no reply could be parsed, continue at *2*
+2. The input buffer is empty:
+ * Write the **entire** output buffer to the socket
+ * Read from the socket until a single reply could be parsed
+
+The function `redisGetReply` is exported as part of the Hiredis API and can be used when a reply
+is expected on the socket. To pipeline commands, the only things that needs to be done is
+filling up the output buffer. For this cause, two commands can be used that are identical
+to the `redisCommand` family, apart from not returning a reply:
+```c
+void redisAppendCommand(redisContext *c, const char *format, ...);
+void redisAppendCommandArgv(redisContext *c, int argc, const char **argv, const size_t *argvlen);
+```
+After calling either function one or more times, `redisGetReply` can be used to receive the
+subsequent replies. The return value for this function is either `REDIS_OK` or `REDIS_ERR`, where
+the latter means an error occurred while reading a reply. Just as with the other commands,
+the `err` field in the context can be used to find out what the cause of this error is.
+
+The following examples shows a simple pipeline (resulting in only a single call to `write(2)` and
+a single call to `read(2)`):
+```c
+redisReply *reply;
+redisAppendCommand(context,"SET foo bar");
+redisAppendCommand(context,"GET foo");
+redisGetReply(context,&reply); // reply for SET
+freeReplyObject(reply);
+redisGetReply(context,&reply); // reply for GET
+freeReplyObject(reply);
+```
+This API can also be used to implement a blocking subscriber:
+```c
+reply = redisCommand(context,"SUBSCRIBE foo");
+freeReplyObject(reply);
+while(redisGetReply(context,&reply) == REDIS_OK) {
+ // consume message
+ freeReplyObject(reply);
+}
+```
+### Errors
+
+When a function call is not successful, depending on the function either `NULL` or `REDIS_ERR` is
+returned. The `err` field inside the context will be non-zero and set to one of the
+following constants:
+
+* **`REDIS_ERR_IO`**:
+ There was an I/O error while creating the connection, trying to write
+ to the socket or read from the socket. If you included `errno.h` in your
+ application, you can use the global `errno` variable to find out what is
+ wrong.
+
+* **`REDIS_ERR_EOF`**:
+ The server closed the connection which resulted in an empty read.
+
+* **`REDIS_ERR_PROTOCOL`**:
+ There was an error while parsing the protocol.
+
+* **`REDIS_ERR_OTHER`**:
+ Any other error. Currently, it is only used when a specified hostname to connect
+ to cannot be resolved.
+
+In every case, the `errstr` field in the context will be set to hold a string representation
+of the error.
+
+## Asynchronous API
+
+Hiredis comes with an asynchronous API that works easily with any event library.
+Examples are bundled that show using Hiredis with [libev](http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/libev.html)
+and [libevent](http://monkey.org/~provos/libevent/).
+
+### Connecting
+
+The function `redisAsyncConnect` can be used to establish a non-blocking connection to
+Redis. It returns a pointer to the newly created `redisAsyncContext` struct. The `err` field
+should be checked after creation to see if there were errors creating the connection.
+Because the connection that will be created is non-blocking, the kernel is not able to
+instantly return if the specified host and port is able to accept a connection.
+```c
+redisAsyncContext *c = redisAsyncConnect("127.0.0.1", 6379);
+if (c->err) {
+ printf("Error: %s\n", c->errstr);
+ // handle error
+}
+```
+
+The asynchronous context can hold a disconnect callback function that is called when the
+connection is disconnected (either because of an error or per user request). This function should
+have the following prototype:
+```c
+void(const redisAsyncContext *c, int status);
+```
+On a disconnect, the `status` argument is set to `REDIS_OK` when disconnection was initiated by the
+user, or `REDIS_ERR` when the disconnection was caused by an error. When it is `REDIS_ERR`, the `err`
+field in the context can be accessed to find out the cause of the error.
+
+The context object is always freed after the disconnect callback fired. When a reconnect is needed,
+the disconnect callback is a good point to do so.
+
+Setting the disconnect callback can only be done once per context. For subsequent calls it will
+return `REDIS_ERR`. The function to set the disconnect callback has the following prototype:
+```c
+int redisAsyncSetDisconnectCallback(redisAsyncContext *ac, redisDisconnectCallback *fn);
+```
+### Sending commands and their callbacks
+
+In an asynchronous context, commands are automatically pipelined due to the nature of an event loop.
+Therefore, unlike the synchronous API, there is only a single way to send commands.
+Because commands are sent to Redis asynchronously, issuing a command requires a callback function
+that is called when the reply is received. Reply callbacks should have the following prototype:
+```c
+void(redisAsyncContext *c, void *reply, void *privdata);
+```
+The `privdata` argument can be used to curry arbitrary data to the callback from the point where
+the command is initially queued for execution.
+
+The functions that can be used to issue commands in an asynchronous context are:
+```c
+int redisAsyncCommand(
+ redisAsyncContext *ac, redisCallbackFn *fn, void *privdata,
+ const char *format, ...);
+int redisAsyncCommandArgv(
+ redisAsyncContext *ac, redisCallbackFn *fn, void *privdata,
+ int argc, const char **argv, const size_t *argvlen);
+```
+Both functions work like their blocking counterparts. The return value is `REDIS_OK` when the command
+was successfully added to the output buffer and `REDIS_ERR` otherwise. Example: when the connection
+is being disconnected per user-request, no new commands may be added to the output buffer and `REDIS_ERR` is
+returned on calls to the `redisAsyncCommand` family.
+
+If the reply for a command with a `NULL` callback is read, it is immediately freed. When the callback
+for a command is non-`NULL`, the memory is freed immediately following the callback: the reply is only
+valid for the duration of the callback.
+
+All pending callbacks are called with a `NULL` reply when the context encountered an error.
+
+### Disconnecting
+
+An asynchronous connection can be terminated using:
+```c
+void redisAsyncDisconnect(redisAsyncContext *ac);
+```
+When this function is called, the connection is **not** immediately terminated. Instead, new
+commands are no longer accepted and the connection is only terminated when all pending commands
+have been written to the socket, their respective replies have been read and their respective
+callbacks have been executed. After this, the disconnection callback is executed with the
+`REDIS_OK` status and the context object is freed.
+
+### Hooking it up to event library *X*
+
+There are a few hooks that need to be set on the context object after it is created.
+See the `adapters/` directory for bindings to *libev* and *libevent*.
+
+## Reply parsing API
+
+Hiredis comes with a reply parsing API that makes it easy for writing higher
+level language bindings.
+
+The reply parsing API consists of the following functions:
+```c
+redisReader *redisReaderCreate(void);
+void redisReaderFree(redisReader *reader);
+int redisReaderFeed(redisReader *reader, const char *buf, size_t len);
+int redisReaderGetReply(redisReader *reader, void **reply);
+```
+The same set of functions are used internally by hiredis when creating a
+normal Redis context, the above API just exposes it to the user for a direct
+usage.
+
+### Usage
+
+The function `redisReaderCreate` creates a `redisReader` structure that holds a
+buffer with unparsed data and state for the protocol parser.
+
+Incoming data -- most likely from a socket -- can be placed in the internal
+buffer of the `redisReader` using `redisReaderFeed`. This function will make a
+copy of the buffer pointed to by `buf` for `len` bytes. This data is parsed
+when `redisReaderGetReply` is called. This function returns an integer status
+and a reply object (as described above) via `void **reply`. The returned status
+can be either `REDIS_OK` or `REDIS_ERR`, where the latter means something went
+wrong (either a protocol error, or an out of memory error).
+
+The parser limits the level of nesting for multi bulk payloads to 7. If the
+multi bulk nesting level is higher than this, the parser returns an error.
+
+### Customizing replies
+
+The function `redisReaderGetReply` creates `redisReply` and makes the function
+argument `reply` point to the created `redisReply` variable. For instance, if
+the response of type `REDIS_REPLY_STATUS` then the `str` field of `redisReply`
+will hold the status as a vanilla C string. However, the functions that are
+responsible for creating instances of the `redisReply` can be customized by
+setting the `fn` field on the `redisReader` struct. This should be done
+immediately after creating the `redisReader`.
+
+For example, [hiredis-rb](https://github.com/pietern/hiredis-rb/blob/master/ext/hiredis_ext/reader.c)
+uses customized reply object functions to create Ruby objects.
+
+### Reader max buffer
+
+Both when using the Reader API directly or when using it indirectly via a
+normal Redis context, the redisReader structure uses a buffer in order to
+accumulate data from the server.
+Usually this buffer is destroyed when it is empty and is larger than 16
+KiB in order to avoid wasting memory in unused buffers
+
+However when working with very big payloads destroying the buffer may slow
+down performances considerably, so it is possible to modify the max size of
+an idle buffer changing the value of the `maxbuf` field of the reader structure
+to the desired value. The special value of 0 means that there is no maximum
+value for an idle buffer, so the buffer will never get freed.
+
+For instance if you have a normal Redis context you can set the maximum idle
+buffer to zero (unlimited) just with:
+```c
+context->reader->maxbuf = 0;
+```
+This should be done only in order to maximize performances when working with
+large payloads. The context should be set back to `REDIS_READER_MAX_BUF` again
+as soon as possible in order to prevent allocation of useless memory.
+
+## AUTHORS
+
+Hiredis was written by Salvatore Sanfilippo (antirez at gmail) and
+Pieter Noordhuis (pcnoordhuis at gmail) and is released under the BSD license.
+Hiredis is currently maintained by Matt Stancliff (matt at genges dot com) and
+Jan-Erik Rediger (janerik at fnordig dot com)