PCAP_FILE(3)

🎀 PCAP_FILE(3) 🎀

okay bestie, welcome to the PCAP_FILE(3) page — it lives in the Library Functions Manual, and we’re about to make pcap_file make sense, no cap. 💖

🌸 NAME 🌸

pcap_file — get the standard I/O stream for a savefile being read 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <pcap/pcap.h>

FILE *pcap_file(pcap_t *p);

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

okay so pcap_file() returns the standard I/O stream of the savefile, if a savefile was opened with pcap_open_offline(3), or NULL, if a network device was opened with pcap_create(3) and pcap_activate(3), or with pcap_open_live(3). like, that’s the whole mood: savefile → stream; live network device → NULL. 💀

heads up bestie: the Packet Capture library is usually built with large file support, so the standard I/O stream of the savefile might refer to a file larger than 2 gigabytes. 🫶 applications that use pcap_file() should, if possible, use calls that support large files on the return value of pcap_file() or the value returned by fileno(3) when passed the return value of pcap_file(). this is the “don’t get caught out by big files” reminder, fr fr. 🔥

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

pcap(3) — go peek, bestie 👑

catch u later, icon — this was the PCAP_FILE(3) page from the Library Functions Manual, dated 3 January 2014. stay hydrated and may your streams never be NULL when you wanted a savefile 💜🧚