'\" te
.\" @(#) $Header: /tcpdump/master/libpcap/pcap_create.3pcap,v 1.1 2008-04-06 02:53:21 guy Exp $
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.TH PCAP_CREATE 3PCAP "5 April 2008"
.SH NAME
pcap_create \- create a live capture handle
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.ft B
#include <pcap/pcap.h>
.ft
.LP
.nf
.ft B
char errbuf[PCAP_ERRBUF_SIZE];
.ft
.LP
.ft B
pcap_t *pcap_create(const char *source, char *errbuf);
.ft
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B pcap_create()
is used to create a packet capture handle to look
at packets on the network.
.I source
is a string that specifies the network device to open; on Linux systems
with 2.2 or later kernels, a
.I source
argument of "any" or
.B NULL
can be used to capture packets from all interfaces.
.PP
The returned handle must be activated with
.B 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.
.SH RETURN VALUE
.B pcap_create()
returns a
.I pcap_t *
on success and
.B NULL
on failure.
If
.B NULL
is returned,
.I errbuf
is filled in with an appropriate error message.
.I errbuf
is assumed to be able to hold at least
.B PCAP_ERRBUF_SIZE
chars.

.\" Oracle has added the ARC stability level to this manual page
.SH ATTRIBUTES
See
.BR attributes (5)
for descriptions of the following attributes:
.sp
.TS
box;
cbp-1 | cbp-1
l | l .
ATTRIBUTE TYPE	ATTRIBUTE VALUE 
=
Availability	system/library/libpcap
=
Stability	Uncommitted
.TE 
.PP
.SH SEE ALSO
pcap(3PCAP), pcap_activate(3PCAP)


.SH NOTES

.\" Oracle has added source availability information to this manual page
This software was built from source available at https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland.  The original community source was downloaded from  http://www.tcpdump.org/release/libpcap-1.5.1.tar.gz

Further information about this software can be found on the open source community website at http://www.tcpdump.org/.