PCAP_OPEN_LIVE(3)                                            PCAP_OPEN_LIVE(3)



NAME
       pcap_open_live - open a device for capturing

SYNOPSIS
       #include <pcap/pcap.h>

       char errbuf[PCAP_ERRBUF_SIZE];

       pcap_t *pcap_open_live(const char *device, int snaplen,
               int promisc, int to_ms, char *errbuf);

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

       snaplen specifies the snapshot length to be set on the handle.

       promisc  specifies if the interface is to be put into promiscuous mode.

       to_ms specifies the read timeout in milliseconds.

RETURN VALUE
       pcap_open_live() returns a pcap_t * on success and NULL on failure.  If
       NULL  is  returned,  errbuf is filled in with an appropriate error mes-
       sage.  errbuf may also be set to  warning  text  when  pcap_open_live()
       succeds;  to  detect  this  case  the caller should store a zero-length
       string in errbuf before calling pcap_open_live() and display the  warn-
       ing to the user if errbuf is no longer a zero-length string.  errbuf is
       assumed to be able to hold at least PCAP_ERRBUF_SIZE chars.

SEE ALSO
       pcap(3), pcap_create(3), pcap_activate(3)



                                 5 April 2008                PCAP_OPEN_LIVE(3)