Transfer vs. Send vs. Call

How to send Ether? §

You can send Ether to other contracts by

• transfer (2300 gas, throws error)
• send (2300 gas, returns bool)
• call (forward all gas or set gas, returns bool)

How to receive Ether? §

A contract receiving Ether must have at least one of the functions below

• receive() external payable
• fallback() external payable

receive() is called if msg.data is empty, otherwise fallback() is called.

Which method should you use? §

call in combination with re-entrancy guard is the recommended method to use after December 2019.

Guard against re-entrancy by

• making all state changes before calling other contracts
• using re-entrancy guard modifier

SendingEther.sol

// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
pragma solidity ^0.8.20;
 
contract ReceiveEther {
    /*
    Which function is called, fallback() or receive()?
 
           send Ether
               |
         msg.data is empty?
              / \
            yes  no
            /     \
receive() exists?  fallback()
         /   \
        yes   no
        /      \
    receive()   fallback()
    */
 
    // Function to receive Ether. msg.data must be empty
    receive() external payable {}
 
    // Fallback function is called when msg.data is not empty
    fallback() external payable {}
 
    function getBalance() public view returns (uint) {
        return address(this).balance;
    }
}
 
contract SendEther {
    function sendViaTransfer(address payable _to) public payable {
        // This function is no longer recommended for sending Ether.
        _to.transfer(msg.value);
    }
 
    function sendViaSend(address payable _to) public payable {
        // Send returns a boolean value indicating success or failure.
        // This function is not recommended for sending Ether.
        bool sent = _to.send(msg.value);
        require(sent, "Failed to send Ether");
    }
 
    function sendViaCall(address payable _to) public payable {
        // Call returns a boolean value indicating success or failure.
        // This is the current recommended method to use.
        (bool sent, bytes memory data) = _to.call{value: msg.value}("");
        require(sent, "Failed to send Ether");
    }
}

Try on Remix §

• SendingEther.sol