Networking - Port Zero


Port 0 is a wildcard port that tells the system to find a suitable port number.

  • nc -l 0: doesn’t work
$ nc -l 0
Ncat: Invalid port number "0". QUITTING.
  • Python socket: works
  • C/C++ socket: works

Reference: https://www.lifewire.com/port-0-in-tcp-and-udp-818145