The decc$write_eof_to_mbx function writes end-of-file message to the mailbox. For a mailbox that is not a pipe, the write function called with an nbytes argument value of 0 sends an end-of-file message to the mailbox. For a pipe, however, the only way to write an end-of- file message to the mailbox is to close the pipe. If the child's standard input is redirected to a pipe through a call to the decc$set_child_standard_streams function, the parent process can call decc$write_eof_to_mbx for this pipe to send an EOF message to the child. It has the same effect as if the child read the data from a terminal, and Ctrl/Z was pressed. After a call to decc$write_eof_to_mbx, the pipe can be reused for communication with another child, for example. This is the purpose of decc$write_eof_to_mbx: to allow reuse of the pipe instead of having to close it just to send an end-of-file message.