Both anonymous and named pipes are provided in Win32. In the case of named pipes, both client- and server-side pipes are supported. Named pipes will work transparently across the network, regardless of the network implementation.
For additional information on how to use pipes, see the Pipes Overview.
The pipe functionality includes:
| Function | Description |
| CallNamedPipe | Equivalent to CreateFile, TransactNamedPipe, CloseFile series |
| ConnectNamedPipe | Used on server side to wait for a client to connect |
| CreateNamedPipe | Used to create first and ensuing instances of a named pipe |
| CreatePipe | Used to create an anonymous pipe |
| DisconnectNamedPipe | Used on server side to force a client to disconnect |
| GetNamedPipeHandleState | Retrieves information about a named pipe handle |
| GetNamedPipeInfo | Retrieves information about a named pipe |
| PeekNamedPipe | Copies named pipe data without removing it from the pipe |
| SetNamedPipeHandleState | Sets the read and blocking mode of a named pipe |
| TransactNamedPipe | Writes data to and reads data from a named pipe |
| WaitNamedPipe | Waits for a named pipe to become available |