PCAP_FILENO(3PCAP)

🎀 NAME 🎀

pcap_fileno — get the file descriptor for a live capture. And yes bestie, this is the 3PCAP manual, so we're doing this properly. 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <pcap/pcap.h>

int pcap_fileno(pcap_t *p);

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

Okay so listen. If p refers to a network device that was opened for a live capture using a combination of pcap_create(3PCAP) and pcap_activate(3PCAP), or using pcap_open_live(3PCAP), then pcap_fileno() returns the file descriptor from which captured packets are read. That's the whole point, bestie: live capture energy, fd unlocked, iconic. ✨

But if p refers to a "savefile" that was opened using functions such as pcap_open_offline(3PCAP) or pcap_fopen_offline(3PCAP), a "dead" pcap_t opened using pcap_open_dead(3PCAP), or a pcap_t that was created with pcap_create() but that has not yet been activated with pcap_activate(), then it returns PCAP_ERROR. Not the vibe, but that's the rule. 💀

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• pcap(3PCAP)

mwah, that's the whole PCAP_FILENO(3PCAP) page, from 25 July 2018 — go off, stay hydrated, and go read pcap(3PCAP) when you're done 🫶💖