(PHP3 >= 3.0.7, PHP4 )
pfsockopen -- 
     Open persistent Internet or Unix domain socket connection
    
Description
int pfsockopen (string hostname, int port [, int 
       errno [, string 
       errstr [, int
       timeout]]])
     This function behaves exactly as fsockopen()
     with the difference that the connection is not closed after the
     script finishes.  It is the persistent version of
     fsockopen().