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 whether the interface is to be put into promiscuous mode.  If promisc is
       non-zero, promiscuous mode will be set, otherwise it will not be set.

       to_ms specifies the packet buffer timeout, as a non-negative value, in milliseconds.  (See
       pcap(3PCAP) for an explanation of the packet buffer timeout.)

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 message.  errbuf may also be set to warning
       text when pcap_open_live() succeeds; to detect this case the caller should store  a  zero-
       length  string  in  errbuf  before calling pcap_open_live() and display the warning 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_create(3PCAP), pcap_activate(3PCAP)

                                         6 December 2017                    PCAP_OPEN_LIVE(3PCAP)