PCAP_CREATE

Section: Misc. Reference Manual Pages (3PCAP)
Updated: 3 January 2014
Index Return to Main Contents

NAME

pcap_create - create a live capture handle

SYNOPSIS

#include <pcap/pcap.h>

char errbuf[PCAP_ERRBUF_SIZE];

pcap_t *pcap_create(const char *source, char *errbuf);

DESCRIPTION

pcap_create() is used to create a packet capture handle to look at packets on the network. source is a string that specifies the network device to open; on Linux systems with 2.2 or later kernels, a source argument of "any" or NULL can be used to capture packets from all interfaces.

The returned handle must be activated with pcap_activate() before packets can be captured with it; options for the capture, such as promiscuous mode, can be set on the handle before activating it.

RETURN VALUE

pcap_create() returns a pcap_t * on success and NULL on failure. If NULL is returned, errbuf is filled in with an appropriate error message. errbuf is assumed to be able to hold at least PCAP_ERRBUF_SIZE chars.