NAME

       pcap_breakloop - force a pcap_dispatch() or pcap_loop() call to return

SYNOPSIS

       #include <pcap/pcap.h>

       void pcap_breakloop(pcap_t *);

DESCRIPTION

       pcap_breakloop()  sets  a  flag that will force pcap_dispatch(3PCAP) or pcap_loop(3PCAP) to return rather
       than looping; they will return the number of packets that have been processed so far, or PCAP_ERROR_BREAK
       if no packets have been processed so far.

       This  routine  is safe to use inside a signal handler on UNIX or a console control handler on Windows, as
       it merely sets a flag that is checked within the loop.

       The flag is checked in loops reading packets from the OS -  a  signal  by  itself  will  not  necessarily
       terminate those loops - as well as in loops processing a set of packets returned by the OS.  Note that if
       you are catching signals on UNIX systems that support restarting system calls after a signal, and calling
       pcap_breakloop()  in the signal handler, you must specify, when catching those signals, that system calls
       should NOT be restarted by that signal.  Otherwise, if the signal interrupted a call reading packets in a
       live  capture,  when  your  signal  handler  returns  after  calling  pcap_breakloop(),  the call will be
       restarted, and the loop will not terminate until more packets arrive and the call completes.

       Note also  that,  in  a  multi-threaded  application,  if  one  thread  is  blocked  in  pcap_dispatch(),
       pcap_loop(),  pcap_next(3PCAP),  or pcap_next_ex(3PCAP), a call to pcap_breakloop() in a different thread
       will not unblock that thread.  You will need to use whatever mechanism the OS  provides  for  breaking  a
       thread  out  of  blocking  calls  in  order  to unblock the thread, such as thread cancellation or thread
       signalling in systems that support POSIX threads, or SetEvent() on the result  of  pcap_getevent()  on  a
       pcap_t on which the thread is blocked on Windows.  Asynchronous procedure calls will not work on Windows,
       as a thread blocked on a pcap_t will not be in an alertable state.

       Note that pcap_next() and pcap_next_ex() will, on some platforms, loop reading packets from the OS;  that
       loop  will  not  necessarily  be  terminated by a signal, so pcap_breakloop() should be used to terminate
       packet processing even if pcap_next() or pcap_next_ex() is being used.

       pcap_breakloop() does not guarantee that no further packets  will  be  processed  by  pcap_dispatch()  or
       pcap_loop() after it is called; at most one more packet might be processed.

       If PCAP_ERROR_BREAK is returned from pcap_dispatch() or pcap_loop(), the flag is cleared, so a subsequent
       call will resume reading packets.  If a positive number is returned,  the  flag  is  not  cleared,  so  a
       subsequent call will return PCAP_ERROR_BREAK and clear the flag.

SEE ALSO

       pcap(3PCAP)

                                                  25 July 2018                             PCAP_BREAKLOOP(3PCAP)