Wireshark · Ethereal-users: Re: [Ethereal-users] Parse error in filter screen.. ?

[Guy Harris <gharris@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Jan 24, 2001 at 10:15:22AM -0500, Peter J. DiCostanzo Jr. - ComPath Inc. wrote:
> When I create a new filter using the gui "New Expression" button, i make a
> filter, name it and save it.  When i include it in a capture I get this:
> Unable to parse filter string. (Parse Error).
> 
> Any ideas?

My first idea is "what is the filter"?

If the filter doesn't follow the rules for capture filters, which are
the same rules as tcpdump has (because Ethereal and tcpdump use the
*same library routine* to parse capture filter strings), you'll get a
parse error.

Note that almost all filters that would be valid *display* filters would
*not* be valid capture filters; the syntaxes of display filters and
capture filters are different.  For example:

	ip.addr == www.sun.com

may be a valid *display* filter, but it's *not* a valid capture filter;
the equivalent capture filter would be

	ip host www.sun.com

The rules for capture filters, from the tcpdump man page (well, the
FreeBSD 3.4 tcpdump man page; later versions of tcpdump and libpcap may
support additional items, e.g. a future libpcap release will support
"ipx" to look for all IPX packets, and only libpcap 0.6 and FreeBSD
libpcap support "iso", "esis", and "isis"):

	expression
	      selects  which  packets  will  be  dumped.   If  no
	      expression is given, all packets on the net will be
	      dumped.	Otherwise, only packets for which expres-
	      sion is `true' will be dumped.

	      The expression consists of one or more  primitives.
	      Primitives  usually  consist of an id (name or num-
	      ber) preceded by one or more qualifiers.	There are
	      three different kinds of qualifier:

	      type   qualifiers  say  what  kind  of thing the id
		     name or number refers  to.   Possible  types
		     are  host,  net and port.	E.g., `host foo',
		     `net 128.3', `port 20'.  If there is no type
		     qualifier, host is assumed.

	      dir    qualifiers  specify  a  particular  transfer
		     direction	to  and/or  from  id.	 Possible
		     directions  are src, dst, src or dst and src
		     and dst.  E.g., `src foo', `dst net  128.3',
		     `src  or dst port ftp-data'.  If there is no
		     dir qualifier, src or dst is  assumed.   For
		     `null' link layers (i.e. point to point pro-
		     tocols such as slip) the  inbound	and  out-
		     bound  qualifiers	can  be used to specify a
		     desired direction.

	      proto  qualifiers restrict the match to a  particu-
		     lar  protocol.   Possible protos are: ether,
		     fddi,  ip,  arp,  rarp,  decnet,  lat,  sca,
		     moprc,  mopdl, iso, esis, isis, tcp and udp.
		     E.g., `ether src foo', `arp net 128.3', `tcp
		     port  21'.   If there is no proto qualifier,
		     all protocols consistent with the	type  are
		     assumed.	E.g., `src foo' means `(ip or arp
		     or rarp) src foo' (except the latter is  not
		     legal  syntax),  `net bar' means `(ip or arp
		     or rarp) net bar' and `port 53' means  `(tcp
		     or udp) port 53'.

	      [`fddi'  is  actually  an  alias	for  `ether'; the
	      parser treats them  identically  as  meaning  ``the
	      data  link  level  used  on  the	specified network
	      interface.''  FDDI  headers  contain  Ethernet-like
	      source and destination addresses, and often contain
	      Ethernet-like packet types, so you  can  filter  on
	      these FDDI fields just as with the analogous Ether-
	      net  fields.   FDDI  headers  also  contain   other
	      fields,  but  you  cannot name them explicitly in a
	      filter expression.]

	      In addition to the above, there  are  some  special
	      `primitive' keywords that don't follow the pattern:
	      gateway, broadcast, less,  greater  and  arithmetic
	      expressions.  All of these are described below.

	      More  complex  filter  expressions  are built up by
	      using the words and, or and not to  combine  primi-
	      tives.   E.g.,  `host  foo and not port ftp and not
	      port ftp-data'.  To save typing,	identical  quali-
	      fier lists can be omitted.  E.g., `tcp dst port ftp
	      or ftp-data or domain' is exactly the same as  `tcp
	      dst  port  ftp  or tcp dst port ftp-data or tcp dst
	      port domain'.

	      Allowable primitives are:

	      dst host host
		     True if the  IP  destination  field  of  the
		     packet  is  host,	which  may  be	either an
		     address or a name.

	      src host host
		     True if the IP source field of the packet is
		     host.

	      host host
		     True  if either the IP source or destination
		     of the packet is host.   Any  of  the  above
		     host  expressions	can be prepended with the
		     keywords, ip, arp, or rarp as in:
			  ip host host
		     which is equivalent to:
			  ether proto \ip and host host
		     If  host  is  a  name   with   multiple   IP
		     addresses,  each address will be checked for
		     a match.

	      ether dst ehost
		     True if the ethernet destination address  is
		     ehost.   Ehost  may  be  either  a name from
		     /etc/ethers or a number (see ethers(3N)  for
		     numeric format).

	      ether src ehost
		     True  if  the  ethernet  source  address  is
		     ehost.

	      ether host ehost
		     True if either the ethernet source or desti-
		     nation address is ehost.

	      gateway host
		     True  if  the packet used host as a gateway.
		     I.e., the	ethernet  source  or  destination
		     address  was  host but neither the IP source
		     nor the IP destination was host.  Host  must
		     be   a  name  and	must  be  found  in  both
		     /etc/hosts and /etc/ethers.  (An  equivalent
		     expression is
			  ether host ehost and not host host
		     which  can be used with either names or num-
		     bers for host / ehost.)

	      dst net net
		     True if the IP destination  address  of  the
		     packet  has a network number of net. Net may
		     be either a name  from  /etc/networks  or	a
		     network	number	 (see	networks(4)   for
		     details).

	      src net net
		     True if the IP source address of the  packet
		     has a network number of net.

	      net net
		     True  if either the IP source or destination
		     address of the packet has a  network  number
		     of net.

	      net net mask mask
		     True  if the IP address matches net with the
		     specific netmask.	May be qualified with src
		     or dst.

	      net net/len
		     True if the IP address matches net a netmask
		     len bits wide.  May be qualified with src or
		     dst.

	      dst port port
		     True  if  the packet is ip/tcp or ip/udp and
		     has a destination port value of  port.   The
		     port  can	be  a  number  or  a name used in
		     /etc/services (see tcp(4P) and udp(4P)).  If
		     a	name  is  used,  both the port number and
		     protocol  are  checked.   If  a  number   or
		     ambiguous name is used, only the port number
		     is checked (e.g., dst port  513  will  print
		     both  tcp/login traffic and udp/who traffic,
		     and port domain will print  both  tcp/domain
		     and udp/domain traffic).

	      src port port
		     True  if  the packet has a source port value
		     of port.

	      port port
		     True if either  the  source  or  destination
		     port  of  the  packet  is	port.  Any of the
		     above port expressions can be prepended with
		     the keywords, tcp or udp, as in:
			  tcp src port port
		     which  matches only tcp packets whose source
		     port is port.

	      less length
		     True if the packet has a length less than or
		     equal to length.  This is equivalent to:
			  len <= length.

	      greater length
		     True if the packet has a length greater than
		     or equal to length.  This is equivalent to:
			  len >= length.

	      ip proto protocol
		     True if the packet  is  an  ip  packet  (see
		     ip(4P)) of protocol type protocol.  Protocol
		     can be a number or one of	the  names  icmp,
		     igrp,  udp, nd, or tcp.  Note that the iden-
		     tifiers tcp, udp, and icmp are also keywords
		     and must be escaped via backslash (\), which
		     is \\ in the C-shell.

	      ether broadcast
		     True if the packet is an ethernet	broadcast
		     packet.  The ether keyword is optional.

	      ip broadcast
		     True  if  the  packet  is	an  IP	broadcast
		     packet.  It checks for both  the  all-zeroes
		     and   all-ones  broadcast	conventions,  and
		     looks up the local subnet mask.

	      ether multicast
		     True if the packet is an ethernet	multicast
		     packet.   The  ether  keyword  is	optional.
		     This is shorthand for `ether[0] & 1 != 0'.

	      ip multicast
		     True  if  the  packet  is	an  IP	multicast
		     packet.

	      ether proto protocol
		     True  if  the packet is of ether type proto-
		     col.  Protocol can be a  number  or  a  name
		     like  ip,	arp, or rarp.  Note these identi-
		     fiers are also keywords and must be  escaped
		     via  backslash  (\).   [In  the case of FDDI
		     (e.g., `fddi protocol  arp'),  the  protocol
		     identification  comes from the 802.2 Logical
		     Link Control (LLC) header, which is  usually
		     layered  on top of the FDDI header.  Tcpdump
		     assumes,  when  filtering	on  the  protocol
		     identifier, that all FDDI packets include an
		     LLC header, and that the LLC  header  is  in
		     so-called SNAP format.]

	      decnet src host
		     True  if  the DECNET source address is host,
		     which  may  be  an  address  of   the   form
		     ``10.123'',  or a DECNET host name.  [DECNET
		     host  name  support  is  only  available  on
		     Ultrix  systems  that  are configured to run
		     DECNET.]

	      decnet dst host
		     True if the DECNET  destination  address  is
		     host.

	      decnet host host
		     True if either the DECNET source or destina-
		     tion address is host.

	      ip, arp, rarp, decnet, iso
		     Abbreviations for:
			  ether proto p
		     where p is one of the above protocols.

	      lat, moprc, mopdl
		     Abbreviations for:
			  ether proto p
		     where p is one of the above protocols.  Note
		     that  tcpdump does not currently know how to
		     parse these protocols.

	      tcp, udp, icmp
		     Abbreviations for:
			  ip proto p
		     where p is one of the above protocols.

	      esis, isis
		     Abbreviations for:
			  iso proto p
		     where p is one of the above protocols.  Note
		     that tcpdump does an incomplete job of pars-
		     ing these protocols.

	      expr relop expr
		     True if the relation holds, where	relop  is
		     one  of  >, <, >=, <=, =, !=, and expr is an
		     arithmetic expression  composed  of  integer
		     constants	(expressed in standard C syntax),
		     the normal binary operators [+, -, *, /,  &,
		     |],  a  length  operator, and special packet
		     data accessors.  To access data  inside  the
		     packet, use the following syntax:
			  proto [ expr : size ]
		     Proto  is one of ether, fddi, ip, arp, rarp,
		     tcp, udp, or icmp, and indicates the  proto-
		     col layer for the index operation.  The byte
		     offset, relative to the  indicated  protocol
		     layer,  is  given by expr.  Size is optional
		     and indicates the number  of  bytes  in  the
		     field  of	interest;  it  can be either one,
		     two, or four,  and  defaults  to  one.   The
		     length  operator,	indicated  by the keyword
		     len, gives the length of the packet.

		     For example, `ether[0] & 1 != 0' catches all
		     multicast	traffic.  The expression `ip[0] &
		     0xf  !=  5'  catches  all	IP  packets  with
		     options.  The expression `ip[6:2] & 0x1fff =
		     0' catches only unfragmented  datagrams  and
		     frag  zero  of  fragmented  datagrams.  This
		     check is implicitly applied to the  tcp  and
		     udp  index operations.  For instance, tcp[0]
		     always means  the	first  byte  of  the  TCP
		     header, and never means the first byte of an
		     intervening fragment.

	      Primitives may be combined using:

		     A	parenthesized  group  of  primitives  and
		     operators	(parentheses  are  special to the
		     Shell and must be escaped).

		     Negation (`!' or `not').

		     Concatenation (`&&' or `and').

		     Alternation (`||' or `or').

	      Negation has highest precedence.	 Alternation  and
	      concatenation  have  equal precedence and associate
	      left to right.  Note that explicit and tokens,  not
	      juxtaposition,  are now required for concatenation.

	      If an identifier is given without  a  keyword,  the
	      most recent keyword is assumed.  For example,
		   not host vs and ace
	      is short for
		   not host vs and host ace
	      which should not be confused with
		   not ( host vs or ace )

	      Expression  arguments  can  be passed to tcpdump as
	      either a single argument or as multiple  arguments,
	      whichever  is  more  convenient.	Generally, if the
	      expression contains  Shell  metacharacters,  it  is
	      easier  to  pass	it  as a single, quoted argument.
	      Multiple arguments  are  concatenated  with  spaces
	      before being parsed.

EXAMPLES
       To  print  all  packets arriving at or departing from sun-
       down:
	      tcpdump host sundown

       To print traffic between helios and either hot or ace:
	      tcpdump host helios and \( hot or ace \)

       To print all IP packets between ace and	any  host  except
       helios:
	      tcpdump ip host ace and not helios

       To  print  all  traffic	between  local hosts and hosts at
       Berkeley:
	      tcpdump net ucb-ether

       To print all ftp traffic through  internet  gateway  snup:
       (note  that  the expression is quoted to prevent the shell
       from (mis-)interpreting the parentheses):
	      tcpdump 'gateway snup and (port ftp or ftp-data)'

       To print traffic neither sourced  from  nor  destined  for
       local  hosts  (if you gateway to one other net, this stuff
       should never make it onto your local net).
	      tcpdump ip and not net localnet

       To print the start and end packets (the SYN and FIN  pack-
       ets)  of  each  TCP conversation that involves a non-local
       host.
	      tcpdump 'tcp[13] & 3 != 0 and not src and dst net localnet'

       To print IP packets longer than	576  bytes  sent  through
       gateway snup:
	      tcpdump 'gateway snup and ip[2:2] > 576'

       To  print  IP broadcast or multicast packets that were not
       sent via ethernet broadcast or multicast:
	      tcpdump 'ether[0] & 1 = 0 and ip[16] >= 224'

       To  print   all	 ICMP	packets   that	 are   not   echo
       requests/replies (i.e., not ping packets):
	      tcpdump 'icmp[0] != 8 and icmp[0] != 0'