1WIRESHARK-FILTER(4) The Wireshark Network Analyzer WIRESHARK-FILTER(4)
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6 wireshark-filter - Wireshark filter syntax and reference
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9 wireshark [other options] [ -R "filter expression" ]
10 tshark [other options] [ -R "filter expression" ]
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14 Wireshark and TShark share a powerful filter engine that helps remove
15 the noise from a packet trace and lets you see only the packets that
16 interest you. If a packet meets the requirements expressed in your
17 filter, then it is displayed in the list of packets. Display filters
18 let you compare the fields within a protocol against a specific value,
19 compare fields against fields, and check the existence of specified
20 fields or protocols.
21 Filters are also used by other features such as statistics generation
23 and packet list colorization (the latter is only available to
24 Wireshark). This manual page describes their syntax. A comprehensive
25 reference of filter fields can be found within Wireshark and in the
26 display filter reference at <https://www.wireshark.org/docs/dfref/>.
27
29 Check whether a field or protocol exists
30 The simplest filter allows you to check for the existence of a protocol
31 or field. If you want to see all packets which contain the IP
32 protocol, the filter would be "ip" (without the quotation marks). To
33 see all packets that contain a Token-Ring RIF field, use "tr.rif".
34 Think of a protocol or field in a filter as implicitly having the
36 "exists" operator.
37 Comparison operators
39 Fields can also be compared against values. The comparison operators
40 can be expressed either through English-like abbreviations or through
41 C-like symbols:
42 eq, == Equal
44 ne, != Not Equal
45 gt, > Greater Than
46 lt, < Less Than
47 ge, >= Greater than or Equal to
48 le, <= Less than or Equal to
49 Search and match operators
51 Additional operators exist expressed only in English, not C-like
52 syntax:
53 contains Does the protocol, field or slice contain a value
55 matches, ~ Does the protocol or text string match the given
56 case-insensitive Perl-compatible regular expression
57 The "contains" operator allows a filter to search for a sequence of
59 characters, expressed as a string (quoted or unquoted), or bytes,
60 expressed as a byte array, or for a single character, expressed as a
61 C-style character constant. For example, to search for a given HTTP
62 URL in a capture, the following filter can be used:
63 http contains "https://www.wireshark.org"
65 The "contains" operator cannot be used on atomic fields, such as
67 numbers or IP addresses.
68 The "matches" or "~" operator allows a filter to apply to a specified
70 Perl-compatible regular expression (PCRE). The "matches" operator is
71 only implemented for protocols and for protocol fields with a text
72 string representation. Matches are case-insensitive by default. For
73 example, to search for a given WAP WSP User-Agent, you can write:
74 wsp.user_agent matches "cldc"
76 This would match "cldc", "CLDC", "cLdC" or any other combination of
78 upper and lower case letters.
79 You can force case sensitivity using
81 wsp.user_agent matches "(?-i)cldc"
83 This is an example of PCRE's (?option) construct. (?-i) performs a
85 case-sensitive pattern match but other options can be specified as
86 well. More information can be found in the pcrepattern(3) man page at
87 <http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html>).
88 Functions
90 The filter language has the following functions:
91 upper(string-field) - converts a string field to uppercase
93 lower(string-field) - converts a string field to lowercase
94 len(field) - returns the byte length of a string or bytes field
95 count(field) - returns the number of field occurrences in a frame
96 string(field) - converts a non-string field to string
97 upper() and lower() are useful for performing case-insensitive string
99 comparisons. For example:
100 upper(ncp.nds_stream_name) contains "MACRO"
102 lower(mount.dump.hostname) == "angel"
103 string() converts a field value to a string, suitable for use with
105 operators like "matches" or "contains". Integer fields are converted to
106 their decimal representation. It can be used with IP/Ethernet
107 addresses (as well as others), but not with string or byte fields. For
108 example:
109 string(frame.number) matches "[13579]$"
111 gives you all the odd packets.
113 Protocol field types
115 Each protocol field is typed. The types are:
116 ASN.1 object identifier
118 Boolean
119 Character string
120 Compiled Perl-Compatible Regular Expression (GRegex) object
121 Date and time
122 Ethernet or other MAC address
123 EUI64 address
124 Floating point (double-precision)
125 Floating point (single-precision)
126 Frame number
127 Globally Unique Identifier
128 IPv4 address
129 IPv6 address
130 IPX network number
131 Label
132 Protocol
133 Sequence of bytes
134 Signed integer, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 8 bytes
135 Time offset
136 Unsigned integer, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 8 bytes
137 1-byte ASCII character
138 An integer may be expressed in decimal, octal, or hexadecimal notation,
140 or as a C-style character constant. The following six display filters
141 are equivalent:
142 frame.pkt_len > 10
144 frame.pkt_len > 012
145 frame.pkt_len > 0xa
146 frame.pkt_len > '\n'
147 frame.pkt_len > '\xa'
148 frame.pkt_len > '\012'
149 Boolean values are either true or false. In a display filter
151 expression testing the value of a Boolean field, "true" is expressed as
152 1 or any other non-zero value, and "false" is expressed as zero. For
153 example, a token-ring packet's source route field is Boolean. To find
154 any source-routed packets, a display filter would be:
155 tr.sr == 1
157 Non source-routed packets can be found with:
159 tr.sr == 0
161 Ethernet addresses and byte arrays are represented by hex digits. The
163 hex digits may be separated by colons, periods, or hyphens:
164 eth.dst eq ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
166 aim.data == 0.1.0.d
167 fddi.src == aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa
168 echo.data == 7a
169 IPv4 addresses can be represented in either dotted decimal notation or
171 by using the hostname:
172 ip.dst eq www.mit.edu
174 ip.src == 192.168.1.1
175 IPv4 addresses can be compared with the same logical relations as
177 numbers: eq, ne, gt, ge, lt, and le. The IPv4 address is stored in
178 host order, so you do not have to worry about the endianness of an IPv4
179 address when using it in a display filter.
180 Classless InterDomain Routing (CIDR) notation can be used to test if an
182 IPv4 address is in a certain subnet. For example, this display filter
183 will find all packets in the 129.111 Class-B network:
184 ip.addr == 129.111.0.0/16
186 Remember, the number after the slash represents the number of bits used
188 to represent the network. CIDR notation can also be used with
189 hostnames, as in this example of finding IP addresses on the same Class
190 C network as 'sneezy':
191 ip.addr eq sneezy/24
193 The CIDR notation can only be used on IP addresses or hostnames, not in
195 variable names. So, a display filter like "ip.src/24 == ip.dst/24" is
196 not valid (yet).
197 IPX networks are represented by unsigned 32-bit integers. Most likely
199 you will be using hexadecimal when testing IPX network values:
200 ipx.src.net == 0xc0a82c00
202 Strings are enclosed in double quotes:
204 http.request.method == "POST"
206 Inside double quotes, you may use a backslash to embed a double quote
208 or an arbitrary byte represented in either octal or hexadecimal.
209 browser.comment == "An embedded \" double-quote"
211 Use of hexadecimal to look for "HEAD":
213 http.request.method == "\x48EAD"
215 Use of octal to look for "HEAD":
217 http.request.method == "\110EAD"
219 This means that you must escape backslashes with backslashes inside
221 double quotes.
222 smb.path contains "\\\\SERVER\\SHARE"
224 looks for \\SERVER\SHARE in "smb.path".
226 The slice operator
228 You can take a slice of a field if the field is a text string or a byte
229 array. For example, you can filter on the vendor portion of an
230 ethernet address (the first three bytes) like this:
231 eth.src[0:3] == 00:00:83
233 Another example is:
235 http.content_type[0:4] == "text"
237 You can use the slice operator on a protocol name, too. The "frame"
239 protocol can be useful, encompassing all the data captured by Wireshark
240 or TShark.
241 token[0:5] ne 0.0.0.1.1
243 llc[0] eq aa
244 frame[100-199] contains "wireshark"
245 The following syntax governs slices:
247 [i:j] i = start_offset, j = length
249 [i-j] i = start_offset, j = end_offset, inclusive.
250 [i] i = start_offset, length = 1
251 [:j] start_offset = 0, length = j
252 [i:] start_offset = i, end_offset = end_of_field
253 Offsets can be negative, in which case they indicate the offset from
255 the end of the field. The last byte of the field is at offset -1, the
256 last but one byte is at offset -2, and so on. Here's how to check the
257 last four bytes of a frame:
258 frame[-4:4] == 0.1.2.3
260 or
262 frame[-4:] == 0.1.2.3
264 A slice is always compared against either a string or a byte sequence.
266 As a special case, when the slice is only 1 byte wide, you can compare
267 it against a hex integer that 0xff or less (which means it fits inside
268 one byte). This is not allowed for byte sequences greater than one
269 byte, because then one would need to specify the endianness of the
270 multi-byte integer. Also, this is not allowed for decimal numbers,
271 since they would be confused with hex numbers that are already allowed
272 as byte strings. Neverthelss, single-byte hex integers can be
273 convienent:
274 frame[4] == 0xff
276 Slices can be combined. You can concatenate them using the comma
278 operator:
279 ftp[1,3-5,9:] == 01:03:04:05:09:0a:0b
281 This concatenates offset 1, offsets 3-5, and offset 9 to the end of the
283 ftp data.
284 The membership operator
286 A field may be checked for matches against a set of values simply with
287 the membership operator. For instance, you may find traffic on common
288 HTTP/HTTPS ports with the following filter:
289 tcp.port in {80 443 8080}
291 as opposed to the more verbose:
293 tcp.port == 80 or tcp.port == 443 or tcp.port == 8080
295 To find HTTP requests using the HEAD or GET methods:
297 http.request.method in {"HEAD" "GET"}
299 The set of values can also contain ranges:
301 tcp.port in {443 4430..4434}
303 ip.addr in {10.0.0.5 .. 10.0.0.9 192.168.1.1..192.168.1.9}
304 frame.time_delta in {10 .. 10.5}
305 Type conversions
307 If a field is a text string or a byte array, it can be expressed in
308 whichever way is most convenient.
309 So, for instance, the following filters are equivalent:
311 http.request.method == "GET"
313 http.request.method == 47.45.54
314 A range can also be expressed in either way:
316 frame[60:2] gt 50.51
318 frame[60:2] gt "PQ"
319 Bit field operations
321 It is also possible to define tests with bit field operations.
322 Currently the following bit field operation is supported:
323 bitwise_and, & Bitwise AND
325 The bitwise AND operation allows testing to see if one or more bits are
327 set. Bitwise AND operates on integer protocol fields and slices.
328 When testing for TCP SYN packets, you can write:
330 tcp.flags & 0x02
332 That expression will match all packets that contain a "tcp.flags" field
334 with the 0x02 bit, i.e. the SYN bit, set.
335 Similarly, filtering for all WSP GET and extended GET methods is
337 achieved with:
338 wsp.pdu_type & 0x40
340 When using slices, the bit mask must be specified as a byte string, and
342 it must have the same number of bytes as the slice itself, as in:
343 ip[42:2] & 40:ff
345 Logical expressions
347 Tests can be combined using logical expressions. These too are
348 expressible in C-like syntax or with English-like abbreviations:
349 and, && Logical AND
351 or, || Logical OR
352 not, ! Logical NOT
353 Expressions can be grouped by parentheses as well. The following are
355 all valid display filter expressions:
356 tcp.port == 80 and ip.src == 192.168.2.1
358 not llc
359 http and frame[100-199] contains "wireshark"
360 (ipx.src.net == 0xbad && ipx.src.node == 0.0.0.0.0.1) || ip
361 Remember that whenever a protocol or field name occurs in an
363 expression, the "exists" operator is implicitly called. The "exists"
364 operator has the highest priority. This means that the first filter
365 expression must be read as "show me the packets for which tcp.port
366 exists and equals 80, and ip.src exists and equals 192.168.2.1". The
367 second filter expression means "show me the packets where not (llc
368 exists)", or in other words "where llc does not exist" and hence will
369 match all packets that do not contain the llc protocol. The third
370 filter expression includes the constraint that offset 199 in the frame
371 exists, in other words the length of the frame is at least 200.
372 A special caveat must be given regarding fields that occur more than
374 once per packet. "ip.addr" occurs twice per IP packet, once for the
375 source address, and once for the destination address. Likewise,
376 "tr.rif.ring" fields can occur more than once per packet. The
377 following two expressions are not equivalent:
378 ip.addr ne 192.168.4.1
380 not ip.addr eq 192.168.4.1
381 The first filter says "show me packets where an ip.addr exists that
383 does not equal 192.168.4.1". That is, as long as one ip.addr in the
384 packet does not equal 192.168.4.1, the packet passes the display
385 filter. The other ip.addr could equal 192.168.4.1 and the packet would
386 still be displayed. The second filter says "don't show me any packets
387 that have an ip.addr field equal to 192.168.4.1". If one ip.addr is
388 192.168.4.1, the packet does not pass. If neither ip.addr field is
389 192.168.4.1, then the packet is displayed.
390 It is easy to think of the 'ne' and 'eq' operators as having an
392 implicit "exists" modifier when dealing with multiply-recurring fields.
393 "ip.addr ne 192.168.4.1" can be thought of as "there exists an ip.addr
394 that does not equal 192.168.4.1". "not ip.addr eq 192.168.4.1" can be
395 thought of as "there does not exist an ip.addr equal to 192.168.4.1".
396 Be careful with multiply-recurring fields; they can be confusing.
398 Care must also be taken when using the display filter to remove noise
400 from the packet trace. If, for example, you want to filter out all IP
401 multicast packets to address 224.1.2.3, then using:
402 ip.dst ne 224.1.2.3
404 may be too restrictive. Filtering with "ip.dst" selects only those IP
406 packets that satisfy the rule. Any other packets, including all non-IP
407 packets, will not be displayed. To display the non-IP packets as well,
408 you can use one of the following two expressions:
409 not ip or ip.dst ne 224.1.2.3
411 not ip.addr eq 224.1.2.3
412 The first filter uses "not ip" to include all non-IP packets and then
414 lets "ip.dst ne 224.1.2.3" filter out the unwanted IP packets. The
415 second filter has already been explained above where filtering with
416 multiply occurring fields was discussed.
417
419 The entire list of display filters is too large to list here. You can
420 can find references and examples at the following locations:
421 · The online Display Filter Reference:
423 <https://www.wireshark.org/docs/dfref/>
424 · Help:Supported Protocols in Wireshark
426 · "tshark -G fields" on the command line
428 · The Wireshark wiki: <https://wiki.wireshark.org/DisplayFilters>
430
432 The wireshark-filters manpage is part of the Wireshark distribution.
433 The latest version of Wireshark can be found at
434 <https://www.wireshark.org>.
435 Regular expressions in the "matches" operator are provided by GRegex in
437 GLib. See
438 <http://developer.gnome.org/glib/2.32/glib-regex-syntax.html> or
439 <http://www.pcre.org/> for more information.
440 This manpage does not describe the capture filter syntax, which is
442 different. See the manual page of pcap-filter(7) or, if that doesn't
443 exist, tcpdump(8), or, if that doesn't exist,
444 <https://wiki.wireshark.org/CaptureFilters> for a description of
445 capture filters.
446
448 wireshark(1), tshark(1), editcap(1), pcap(3), pcap-filter(7) or
449 tcpdump(8) if it doesn't exist.
450
452 See the list of authors in the Wireshark man page for a list of authors
453 of that code.
4543.0.1 2019-04-08 WIRESHARK-FILTER(4)