How to setup simple netcat server which sleeps before it returns a HTTP response

Question

Scenario

Whenever the netcat server receives a connection, I want it to sleep for 2s before returning a HTTP response.

I know we can turn netcat into a simple HTTP server by something like nc -lp 3000 < httprespose.

Question

How do I simulate the 2s delay?

I don't know how you define "completely different binary". I know socat and netcat are different tools. — Kamil Maciorowski
– Kamil Maciorowski, Commented Apr 9, 2020 at 5:46
Thanks. Just a side question - I was trying to get good at netcat since it's so versatile and recommended by many people. Are there anything netcat can do but socat can't in your opinion? — Tran Triet
– Tran Triet, Commented Apr 9, 2020 at 5:49
I know there are things netcat cannot do but socat can. I suspect all things netcat can do, socat can do as well. Note there are at least two major implementations of netcat (aka nc). There is also ncat. See this. — Kamil Maciorowski
– Kamil Maciorowski, Commented Apr 9, 2020 at 5:55
Thanks. I know about the different flavors of netcat but I guess they probably provide similar functionalities. Could you cook up a solution for my problem with socat and put in the answer? That'd really help me and I'll be very happy to accept it right away. — Tran Triet
– Tran Triet, Commented Apr 9, 2020 at 6:03

Kamil Maciorowski · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-09 06:16:57Z

1

I know a way with socat:

socat TCP-LISTEN:3000,fork SYSTEM:'sleep 2; cat httprespose',pty,echo=0

^{Roughly based on my another answer.}

answered Apr 9, 2020 at 6:16

Kamil Maciorowski

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