POSIX Pipes Connecting two child processes via a pipe

Example

Connecting two child processes via a pipe is performed by connecting each of two children to the parent via different ends of the same pipe. Usually, the parent will not be party to the conversation between the children, so it closes its copies of both pipe ends.

int demo() {
    int pipefds[2];
    pid_t child1, child2;

    if (pipe(pipefds)) {
        // error - abort ...
    }

    switch (child1 = fork()) {
        case -1:
            // error - abort
            break;
        case 0:   /* child 1 */
            close(pipefds[0]);
            write(pipefds[1], "Hello, brother!", 15);
            exit(0);
        default:  /* parent */
            // nothing
    }

    switch (child1 = fork()) {
        case -1:
            // error - abort
            break;
        case 0:   /* child 2 */
            char buffer[256];
            ssize_t nread;

            close(pipefds[1]);
            nread = read(pipefds[0], buffer, sizeof(buffer) - 1);
            if (nread < 0) {
                // handle error
            } else {
                buffer[nread] = '\0';
                printf("My brother told me '%s'\n", buffer);
            }
            exit(0);
        default:  /* parent */
            // nothing
    }

    // Only the parent reaches this point
    close(pipefds[0]);
    close(pipefds[1]);
    if (child1 >= 0) {
        wait(NULL);
        if (child2 >= 0) {
            wait(NULL);
        }
    }
}