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# SSLConnectionRef

A pointer to an opaque I/O connection object.

```
typealias SSLConnectionRef = UnsafeRawPointer
```

## Discussion

The I/O connection object refers to data that identifies a connection. The connection data is opaque to Secure Transport; you can set it to any value that your application can use in the callback functions [`SSLReadFunc`](/documentation/Security/SSLReadFunc) and [`SSLWriteFunc`](/documentation/Security/SSLWriteFunc) to uniquely identify the connection, such as a socket or endpoint. Use the [`SSLSetConnection(_:_:)`](/documentation/Security/SSLSetConnection(_:_:)) function to assign a value to the connection object.

---

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