Poll handles are used to watch file descriptors for readability, writability and disconnection similar to the purpose of 👨`poll(2)`.

The purpose of poll handles is to enable integrating external libraries that rely on the event loop to signal it about the socket status changes, like c-ares or libssh2. Using uv_poll_t for any other purpose is not recommended; :c:type:`uv_tcp_t`, :c:type:`uv_udp_t`, etc. provide an implementation that is faster and more scalable than what can be achieved with :c:type:`uv_poll_t`, especially on Windows.

It is possible that poll handles occasionally signal that a file descriptor is readable or writable even when it isn't. The user should therefore always be prepared to handle EAGAIN or equivalent when it attempts to read from or write to the fd.

It is not okay to have multiple active poll handles for the same socket, this can cause libuv to busyloop or otherwise malfunction.

The user should not close a file descriptor while it is being polled by an active poll handle. This can cause the handle to report an error, but it might also start polling another socket. However the fd can be safely closed immediately after a call to :c:func:`uv_poll_stop` or :c:func:`uv_close`.

.. c:type:: uv_poll_t

    Poll handle type.

.. c:type:: void (*uv_poll_cb)(uv_poll_t* handle, int status, int events)

    Type definition for callback passed to :c:func:`uv_poll_start`.

.. c:type:: uv_poll_event

    Poll event types

    ::

        enum uv_poll_event {
            UV_READABLE = 1,
            UV_WRITABLE = 2,
            UV_DISCONNECT = 4
        };

N/A

.. seealso:: The :c:type:`uv_handle_t` members also apply.

.. c:function:: int uv_poll_init(uv_loop_t* loop, uv_poll_t* handle, int fd)

    Initialize the handle using a file descriptor.

    .. versionchanged:: 1.2.2 the file descriptor is set to non-blocking mode.

.. c:function:: int uv_poll_init_socket(uv_loop_t* loop, uv_poll_t* handle, uv_os_sock_t socket)

    Initialize the handle using a socket descriptor. On Unix this is identical
    to :c:func:`uv_poll_init`. On windows it takes a SOCKET handle.

    .. versionchanged:: 1.2.2 the socket is set to non-blocking mode.

.. c:function:: int uv_poll_start(uv_poll_t* handle, int events, uv_poll_cb cb)

    Starts polling the file descriptor. `events` is a bitmask consisting made up
    of UV_READABLE, UV_WRITABLE and UV_DISCONNECT. As soon as an event is detected
    the callback will be called with `status` set to 0, and the detected events set on the
    `events` field.

    The UV_DISCONNECT event is optional in the sense that it may not be
    reported and the user is free to ignore it, but it can help optimize the shutdown
    path because an extra read or write call might be avoided.

    If an error happens while polling, `status` will be < 0 and corresponds
    with one of the UV_E* error codes (see :ref:`errors`). The user should
    not close the socket while the handle is active. If the user does that
    anyway, the callback *may* be called reporting an error status, but this
    is **not** guaranteed.

    .. note::
        Calling :c:func:`uv_poll_start` on a handle that is already active is fine. Doing so
        will update the events mask that is being watched for.

    .. note::
        Though UV_DISCONNECT can be set, it is unsupported on AIX and as such will not be set
        on the `events` field in the callback.

    .. versionchanged:: 1.9.0 Added the UV_DISCONNECT event.

.. c:function:: int uv_poll_stop(uv_poll_t* poll)

    Stop polling the file descriptor, the callback will no longer be called.

.. seealso:: The :c:type:`uv_handle_t` API functions also apply.