You can easily find packets once you have captured some packets or have read in a previously saved capture file. Simply select → in the main menu. Wireshark will open a toolbar between the main toolbar and the packet list shown in Figure 6.12, “The “Find Packet” toolbar”. The same toolbar can also search within the currently selected packet: see Section 6.8.2, “Finding Text in the Selected Packet”.
You can search using the following criteria:
- Display filter
-
Enter a display filter string into the text entry field and click the button. + For example, to find the three-way handshake for a connection from host 192.168.0.1, use the following filter string:
ip.src==192.168.0.1 and tcp.flags.syn==1
The value to be found will be syntax checked while you type it in. If the syntax check of your value succeeds, the background of the entry field will turn green, if it fails, it will turn red. For more details see Section 6.3, “Filtering Packets While Viewing”
- Hexadecimal Value
-
Search for a specific byte sequence in the packet data.
For example, use “ef:bb:bf” to find the next packet that contains the UTF-8 byte order mark.
- String
- Find a string in the packet data, with various options.
- Regular Expression
- Search the packet data using Perl-compatible regular expressions. PCRE patterns are beyond the scope of this document, but typing “pcre test” into your favorite search engine should return a number of sites that will help you test and explore your expressions.
When exactly one packet is selected in the packet list, the "Find Packet" toolbar can search within that packet’s protocol tree instead of searching the whole capture file.
Check on the options row at the bottom of the toolbar. Wireshark limits the search type to and and searches only the packet details of the currently selected packet. The , , and options are not used in this mode.
Enter a search string or regular expression in the search field, then click or press Enter to move to the next match. Press Shift+Enter to move to the previous match. You can also use → (Ctrl+N) and → (Ctrl+B). Matching fields are highlighted in the protocol tree.
While a search is active, the status bar can show a match counter such
as [3 of 57] before the description of the selected field. If no
matches are found, Wireshark shows a message in the status bar.
is available only when a single packet is selected. If the selection is cleared or includes more than one packet, the checkbox is disabled and any in-packet highlighting is removed. Click on the toolbar or press Esc to close the Find Packet toolbar and clear the highlighting.
When you view a packet in a separate window (see Figure 6.2, “Viewing a packet in a separate window”), you can search within that window’s protocol tree without using the main Find Packet toolbar.
Check in the row of options below the protocol tree, or select → (Ctrl+Alt+F). Wireshark opens a find bar above the protocol tree. The find bar provides and search, a option, a match counter, and and buttons.
Enter a search string or regular expression, then click or press Enter to move to the next match. Press Shift+Enter to move to the previous match. Matching fields are highlighted in the protocol tree. Uncheck or click to close the find bar and clear the highlighting.