NAME¶

tshark - Dump and analyze network traffic

SYNOPSIS¶

tshark [ -2 ] [ -a <capture autostop condition> ] ... [ -b <capture ring buffer option>] ... [ -B <capture buffer size> ]  [ -c <capture packet count> ] [ -C <configuration profile> ] [ -d <layer type>==<selector>,<decode-as protocol> ] [ -D ] [ -e <field> ] [ -E <field print option> ] [ -f <capture filter> ] [ -F <file format> ] [ -g ] [ -h ] [ -H <input hosts file> ] [ -i <capture interface>|- ] [ -j <protocol match filter> ] [ -I ] [ -K <keytab> ] [ -l ] [ -L ] [ -n ] [ -N <name resolving flags> ] [ -o <preference setting> ] ... [ -O <protocols> ] [ -p ] [ -P ] [ -q ] [ -Q ] [ -r <infile> ] [ -R <Read filter> ] [ -s <capture snaplen> ] [ -S <separator> ] [ -t a|ad|adoy|d|dd|e|r|u|ud|udoy ] [ -T ek|fields|json|pdml|ps|psml|tabs|text ] [ -u <seconds type>] [ -U <tap_name>] [ -v ] [ -V ] [ -w <outfile>|- ] [ -W <file format option>] [ -x ] [ -X <eXtension option>] [ -y <capture link type> ] [ -Y <displaY filter> ] [ -M <auto session reset> ] [ -z <statistics> ] [ --capture-comment <comment> ] [ --list-time-stamp-types ] [ --time-stamp-type <type> ] [ --color ] [ --no-duplicate-keys ] [ --export-objects <protocol>,<destdir> ] [ --enable-protocol <proto_name> ] [ --disable-protocol <proto_name> ] [ --enable-heuristic <short_name> ] [ --disable-heuristic <short_name> ] [ <capture filter> ]

tshark -G [ <report type> ]

DESCRIPTION¶

TShark is a network protocol analyzer. It lets you capture packet data from a live network, or read packets from a previously saved capture file, either printing a decoded form of those packets to the standard output or writing the packets to a file. TShark's native capture file format is pcap format, which is also the format used by tcpdump and various other tools.

Without any options set, TShark will work much like tcpdump. It will use the pcap library to capture traffic from the first available network interface and displays a summary line on the standard output for each received packet.

When run with the -r option, specifying a capture file from which to read, TShark will again work much like tcpdump, reading packets from the file and displaying a summary line on the standard output for each packet read. TShark is able to detect, read and write the same capture files that are supported by Wireshark. The input file doesn't need a specific filename extension; the file format and an optional gzip compression will be automatically detected. Near the beginning of the DESCRIPTION section of wireshark(1) or <https://www.wireshark.org/docs/man-pages/wireshark.html> is a detailed description of the way Wireshark handles this, which is the same way Tshark handles this.

Compressed file support uses (and therefore requires) the zlib library. If the zlib library is not present when compiling TShark, it will be possible to compile it, but the resulting program will be unable to read compressed files.

When displaying packets on the standard output, TShark writes, by default, a summary line containing the fields specified by the preferences file (which are also the fields displayed in the packet list pane in Wireshark), although if it's writing packets as it captures them, rather than writing packets from a saved capture file, it won't show the "frame number" field. If the -V option is specified, it instead writes a view of the details of the packet, showing all the fields of all protocols in the packet. If the -O option is specified, it will only show the full details for the protocols specified, and show only the top-level detail line for all other protocols. Use the output of "tshark -G protocols" to find the abbreviations of the protocols you can specify. If the -P option is specified with either the -V or -O options, both the summary line for the entire packet and the details will be displayed.

Packet capturing is performed with the pcap library. That library supports specifying a filter expression; packets that don't match that filter are discarded. The -f option is used to specify a capture filter. The syntax of a capture filter is defined by the pcap library; this syntax is different from the read filter syntax described below, and the filtering mechanism is limited in its abilities.

Read filters in TShark, which allow you to select which packets are to be decoded or written to a file, are very powerful; more fields are filterable in TShark than in other protocol analyzers, and the syntax you can use to create your filters is richer. As TShark progresses, expect more and more protocol fields to be allowed in read filters. Read filters use the same syntax as display and color filters in Wireshark; a read filter is specified with the -R option.

Read filters can be specified when capturing or when reading from a capture file. Note that that capture filters are much more efficient than read filters, and it may be more difficult for TShark to keep up with a busy network if a read filter is specified for a live capture, so you might be more likely to lose packets if you're using a read filter.

A capture or read filter can either be specified with the -f or -R option, respectively, in which case the entire filter expression must be specified as a single argument (which means that if it contains spaces, it must be quoted), or can be specified with command-line arguments after the option arguments, in which case all the arguments after the filter arguments are treated as a filter expression. If the filter is specified with command-line arguments after the option arguments, it's a capture filter if a capture is being done (i.e., if no -r option was specified) and a read filter if a capture file is being read (i.e., if a -r option was specified).

If the -w option is specified when capturing packets or reading from a capture file, TShark does not display packets on the standard output. Instead, it writes the packets to a capture file with the name specified by the -w option.

If you want to write the decoded form of packets to a file, run TShark without the -w option, and redirect its standard output to the file (do not use the -w option).

If you want the packets to be displayed to the standard output and also saved to a file, specify the -P option in addition to the -w option to have the summary line displayed, specify the -V option in addition to the -w option to have the details of the packet displayed, and specify the -O option, with a list of protocols, to have the full details of the specified protocols and the top-level detail line for all other protocols to be displayed. If the -P option is used together with the -V or -O option, the summary line will be displayed along with the detail lines.

When writing packets to a file, TShark, by default, writes the file in pcapng format, and writes all of the packets it sees to the output file. The -F option can be used to specify the format in which to write the file. This list of available file formats is displayed by the -F option without a value. However, you can't specify a file format for a live capture.

When capturing packets, TShark writes to the standard error an initial line listing the interfaces from which packets are being captured and, if packet information isn't being displayed to the terminal, writes a continuous count of packets captured to the standard output. If the -q option is specified, neither the continuous count nor the packet information will be displayed; instead, at the end of the capture, a count of packets captured will be displayed. If the -Q option is specified, neither the initial line, nor the packet information, nor any packet counts will be displayed. If the -q or -Q option is used, the -P, -V, or -O option can be used to cause the corresponding output to be displayed even though other output is suppressed.

When reading packets, the -q and -Q option will suppress the display of the packet summary or details; this would be used if -z options are specified in order to display statistics, so that only the statistics, not the packet information, is displayed.

The -G option is a special mode that simply causes Tshark to dump one of several types of internal glossaries and then exit.

OPTIONS¶

-2

Perform a two-pass analysis. This causes tshark to buffer output until the entire first pass is done, but allows it to fill in fields that require future knowledge, such as 'response in frame #' fields. Also permits reassembly frame dependencies to be calculated correctly.

-a <capture autostop condition>

Specify a criterion that specifies when TShark is to stop writing to a capture file. The criterion is of the form test:value, where test is one of:

duration:value Stop writing to a capture file after value seconds have elapsed.

filesize:value Stop writing to a capture file after it reaches a size of value kB. If this option is used together with the -b option, TShark will stop writing to the current capture file and switch to the next one if filesize is reached. When reading a capture file, TShark will stop reading the file after the number of bytes read exceeds this number (the complete packet will be read, so more bytes than this number may be read). Note that the filesize is limited to a maximum value of 2 GiB.

files:value Stop writing to capture files after value number of files were written.

-b <capture ring buffer option>

Cause TShark to run in "multiple files" mode. In "multiple files" mode, TShark will write to several capture files. When the first capture file fills up, TShark will switch writing to the next file and so on.

The created filenames are based on the filename given with the -w option, the number of the file and on the creation date and time, e.g. outfile_00001_20050604120117.pcap, outfile_00002_20050604120523.pcap, ...

With the files option it's also possible to form a "ring buffer". This will fill up new files until the number of files specified, at which point TShark will discard the data in the first file and start writing to that file and so on. If the files option is not set, new files filled up until one of the capture stop conditions match (or until the disk is full).

The criterion is of the form key:value, where key is one of:

duration:value switch to the next file after value seconds have elapsed, even if the current file is not completely filled up.

interval:value switch to the next file when the time is an exact multiple of value seconds

filesize:value switch to the next file after it reaches a size of value kB. Note that the filesize is limited to a maximum value of 2 GiB.

files:value begin again with the first file after value number of files were written (form a ring buffer). This value must be less than 100000. Caution should be used when using large numbers of files: some filesystems do not handle many files in a single directory well. The files criterion requires either duration, interval or filesize to be specified to control when to go to the next file. It should be noted that each -b parameter takes exactly one criterion; to specify two criterion, each must be preceded by the -b option.

Example: -b filesize:1000 -b files:5 results in a ring buffer of five files of size one megabyte each.

-B <capture buffer size>

Set capture buffer size (in MiB, default is 2 MiB). This is used by the capture driver to buffer packet data until that data can be written to disk. If you encounter packet drops while capturing, try to increase this size. Note that, while Tshark attempts to set the buffer size to 2 MiB by default, and can be told to set it to a larger value, the system or interface on which you're capturing might silently limit the capture buffer size to a lower value or raise it to a higher value.

This is available on UNIX systems with libpcap 1.0.0 or later and on Windows. It is not available on UNIX systems with earlier versions of libpcap.

This option can occur multiple times. If used before the first occurrence of the -i option, it sets the default capture buffer size. If used after an -i option, it sets the capture buffer size for the interface specified by the last -i option occurring before this option. If the capture buffer size is not set specifically, the default capture buffer size is used instead.

-c <capture packet count>

Set the maximum number of packets to read when capturing live data. If reading a capture file, set the maximum number of packets to read.

-C <configuration profile>

Run with the given configuration profile.

-d <layer type>==<selector>,<decode-as protocol>

Like Wireshark's Decode As... feature, this lets you specify how a layer type should be dissected. If the layer type in question (for example, tcp.port or udp.port for a TCP or UDP port number) has the specified selector value, packets should be dissected as the specified protocol.

Example: -d tcp.port==8888,http will decode any traffic running over TCP port 8888 as HTTP.

Example: -d tcp.port==8888:3,http will decode any traffic running over TCP ports 8888, 8889 or 8890 as HTTP.

Example: -d tcp.port==8888-8890,http will decode any traffic running over TCP ports 8888, 8889 or 8890 as HTTP.

Using an invalid selector or protocol will print out a list of valid selectors and protocol names, respectively.

Example: -d . is a quick way to get a list of valid selectors.

Example: -d ethertype==0x0800. is a quick way to get a list of protocols that can be selected with an ethertype.

-D

Print a list of the interfaces on which TShark can capture, and exit. For each network interface, a number and an interface name, possibly followed by a text description of the interface, is printed. The interface name or the number can be supplied to the -i option to specify an interface on which to capture.

This can be useful on systems that don't have a command to list them (UNIX systems lacking ifconfig -a or Linux systems lacking ip link show). The number can be useful on Windows systems, where the interface name might be a long name or a GUID.

Note that "can capture" means that TShark was able to open that device to do a live capture. Depending on your system you may need to run tshark from an account with special privileges (for example, as root) to be able to capture network traffic. If TShark -D is not run from such an account, it will not list any interfaces.

-e <field>

Add a field to the list of fields to display if -T ek|fields|json|pdml is selected. This option can be used multiple times on the command line. At least one field must be provided if the -T fields option is selected. Column names may be used prefixed with "_ws.col."

Example: -e frame.number -e ip.addr -e udp -e _ws.col.Info

Giving a protocol rather than a single field will print multiple items of data about the protocol as a single field. Fields are separated by tab characters by default. -E controls the format of the printed fields.

-E <field print option>

Set an option controlling the printing of fields when -T fields is selected.

Options are:

bom=y|n If y, prepend output with the UTF-8 byte order mark (hexadecimal ef, bb, bf). Defaults to n.

header=y|n If y, print a list of the field names given using -e as the first line of the output; the field name will be separated using the same character as the field values. Defaults to n.

separator=/t|/s|<character> Set the separator character to use for fields. If /t tab will be used (this is the default), if /s, a single space will be used. Otherwise any character that can be accepted by the command line as part of the option may be used.

occurrence=f|l|a Select which occurrence to use for fields that have multiple occurrences. If f the first occurrence will be used, if l the last occurrence will be used and if a all occurrences will be used (this is the default).

aggregator=,|/s|<character> Set the aggregator character to use for fields that have multiple occurrences. If , a comma will be used (this is the default), if /s, a single space will be used. Otherwise any character that can be accepted by the command line as part of the option may be used.

quote=d|s|n Set the quote character to use to surround fields. d uses double-quotes, s single-quotes, n no quotes (the default).

-f <capture filter>

Set the capture filter expression.

This option can occur multiple times. If used before the first occurrence of the -i option, it sets the default capture filter expression. If used after an -i option, it sets the capture filter expression for the interface specified by the last -i option occurring before this option. If the capture filter expression is not set specifically, the default capture filter expression is used if provided.

Pre-defined capture filter names, as shown in the GUI menu item Capture->Capture Filters, can be used by prefixing the argument with "predef:". Example: -f "predef:MyPredefinedHostOnlyFilter"

-F <file format>

Set the file format of the output capture file written using the -w option. The output written with the -w option is raw packet data, not text, so there is no -F option to request text output. The option -F without a value will list the available formats.

-g

This option causes the output file(s) to be created with group-read permission (meaning that the output file(s) can be read by other members of the calling user's group).

-G [ <report type> ]

The -G option will cause Tshark to dump one of several types of glossaries and then exit. If no specific glossary type is specified, then the fields report will be generated by default. Using the report type of help lists all the current report types.

The available report types include:

column-formats Dumps the column formats understood by tshark. There is one record per line. The fields are tab-delimited.

 * Field 1 = format string (e.g. "%rD")
 * Field 2 = text description of format string (e.g. "Dest port (resolved)")
    

currentprefs Dumps a copy of the current preferences file to stdout.

decodes Dumps the "layer type"/"decode as" associations to stdout. There is one record per line. The fields are tab-delimited.

 * Field 1 = layer type, e.g. "tcp.port"
 * Field 2 = selector in decimal
 * Field 3 = "decode as" name, e.g. "http"
    

defaultprefs Dumps a default preferences file to stdout.

dissector-tables Dumps a list of dissector tables to stdout. There is one record per line. The fields are tab-delimited.

 * Field 1 = dissector table name, e.g. "tcp.port"
 * Field 2 = name used for the dissector table in the GUI
 * Field 3 = type (textual representation of the ftenum type)
 * Field 4 = base for display (for integer types)
 * Field 5 = protocol name
 * Field 6 = "decode as" support
    

fieldcount Dumps the number of header fields to stdout.

fields Dumps the contents of the registration database to stdout. An independent program can take this output and format it into nice tables or HTML or whatever. There is one record per line. Each record is either a protocol or a header field, differentiated by the first field. The fields are tab-delimited.

 * Protocols
 * ---------
 * Field 1 = 'P'
 * Field 2 = descriptive protocol name
 * Field 3 = protocol abbreviation
 *
 * Header Fields
 * -------------
 * Field 1 = 'F'
 * Field 2 = descriptive field name
 * Field 3 = field abbreviation
 * Field 4 = type (textual representation of the ftenum type)
 * Field 5 = parent protocol abbreviation
 * Field 6 = base for display (for integer types); "parent bitfield width" for FT_BOOLEAN
 * Field 7 = bitmask: format: hex: 0x....
 * Field 8 = blurb describing field
    

folders Dumps various folders used by tshark. This is essentially the same data reported in Wireshark's About | Folders tab. There is one record per line. The fields are tab-delimited.

 * Field 1 = Folder type (e.g "Personal configuration:")
 * Field 2 = Folder location (e.g. "/home/vagrant/.config/wireshark/")
    

ftypes Dumps the "ftypes" (fundamental types) understood by tshark. There is one record per line. The fields are tab-delimited.

 * Field 1 = FTYPE (e.g "FT_IPv6")
 * Field 2 = text description of type (e.g. "IPv6 address")
    

heuristic-decodes Dumps the heuristic decodes currently installed. There is one record per line. The fields are tab-delimited.

 * Field 1 = underlying dissector (e.g. "tcp")
 * Field 2 = name of heuristic decoder (e.g. ucp")
 * Field 3 = heuristic enabled (e.g. "T" or "F")
    

help Displays the available report types.

plugins Dumps the plugins currently installed. There is one record per line. The fields are tab-delimited.

 * Field 1 = plugin library (e.g. "gryphon.so")
 * Field 2 = plugin version (e.g. 0.0.4)
 * Field 3 = plugin type (e.g. "dissector" or "tap")
 * Field 4 = full path to plugin file
    

protocols Dumps the protocols in the registration database to stdout. An independent program can take this output and format it into nice tables or HTML or whatever. There is one record per line. The fields are tab-delimited.

 * Field 1 = protocol name
 * Field 2 = protocol short name
 * Field 3 = protocol filter name
    

values Dumps the value_strings, range_strings or true/false strings for fields that have them. There is one record per line. Fields are tab-delimited. There are three types of records: Value String, Range String and True/False String. The first field, 'V', 'R' or 'T', indicates the type of record.

 * Value Strings
 * -------------
 * Field 1 = 'V'
 * Field 2 = field abbreviation to which this value string corresponds
 * Field 3 = Integer value
 * Field 4 = String
 *
 * Range Strings
 * -------------
 * Field 1 = 'R'
 * Field 2 = field abbreviation to which this range string corresponds
 * Field 3 = Integer value: lower bound
 * Field 4 = Integer value: upper bound
 * Field 5 = String
 *
 * True/False Strings
 * ------------------
 * Field 1 = 'T'
 * Field 2 = field abbreviation to which this true/false string corresponds
 * Field 3 = True String
 * Field 4 = False String
    

-h

--help

Print the version and options and exit.

-H <input hosts file>

Read a list of entries from a "hosts" file, which will then be written to a capture file. Implies -W n. Can be called multiple times.

The "hosts" file format is documented at <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_(file)>.

-i <capture interface> | -

Set the name of the network interface or pipe to use for live packet capture.

Network interface names should match one of the names listed in "tshark -D" (described above); a number, as reported by "tshark -D", can also be used. If you're using UNIX, "netstat -i" or "ifconfig -a" might also work to list interface names, although not all versions of UNIX support the -a option to ifconfig.

If no interface is specified, TShark searches the list of interfaces, choosing the first non-loopback interface if there are any non-loopback interfaces, and choosing the first loopback interface if there are no non-loopback interfaces. If there are no interfaces at all, TShark reports an error and doesn't start the capture.

Pipe names should be either the name of a FIFO (named pipe) or ``-'' to read data from the standard input. Data read from pipes must be in standard pcap format.

This option can occur multiple times. When capturing from multiple interfaces, the capture file will be saved in pcapng format.

Note: the Win32 version of TShark doesn't support capturing from pipes!

-I

Put the interface in "monitor mode"; this is supported only on IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi interfaces, and supported only on some operating systems.

Note that in monitor mode the adapter might disassociate from the network with which it's associated, so that you will not be able to use any wireless networks with that adapter. This could prevent accessing files on a network server, or resolving host names or network addresses, if you are capturing in monitor mode and are not connected to another network with another adapter.

This option can occur multiple times. If used before the first occurrence of the -i option, it enables the monitor mode for all interfaces. If used after an -i option, it enables the monitor mode for the interface specified by the last -i option occurring before this option.

-j <protocol match filter>

Protocol match filter used for ek|json|jsonraw|pdml output file types. Parent node containing multiple child nodes is only included, if the name is found in the filter.

Example: -j "ip ip.flags text"

-J <protocol match filter>

Protocol top level filter used for ek|json|jsonraw|pdml output file types. Parent node containing multiple child nodes is included with all children.

Example: -J "http tcp"

-K <keytab>

Load kerberos crypto keys from the specified keytab file. This option can be used multiple times to load keys from several files.

Example: -K krb5.keytab

-l

Flush the standard output after the information for each packet is printed. (This is not, strictly speaking, line-buffered if -V was specified; however, it is the same as line-buffered if -V wasn't specified, as only one line is printed for each packet, and, as -l is normally used when piping a live capture to a program or script, so that output for a packet shows up as soon as the packet is seen and dissected, it should work just as well as true line-buffering. We do this as a workaround for a deficiency in the Microsoft Visual C++ C library.)

This may be useful when piping the output of TShark to another program, as it means that the program to which the output is piped will see the dissected data for a packet as soon as TShark sees the packet and generates that output, rather than seeing it only when the standard output buffer containing that data fills up.

-L

List the data link types supported by the interface and exit. The reported link types can be used for the -y option.

-n

Disable network object name resolution (such as hostname, TCP and UDP port names); the -N option might override this one.

-N <name resolving flags>

Turn on name resolving only for particular types of addresses and port numbers, with name resolving for other types of addresses and port numbers turned off. This option overrides -n if both -N and -n are present. If both -N and -n options are not present, all name resolutions are turned on.

The argument is a string that may contain the letters:

d to enable resolution from captured DNS packets

m to enable MAC address resolution

n to enable network address resolution

N to enable using external resolvers (e.g., DNS) for network address resolution

t to enable transport-layer port number resolution

v to enable VLAN IDs to names resolution

-o <preference>:<value>

Set a preference value, overriding the default value and any value read from a preference file. The argument to the option is a string of the form prefname:value, where prefname is the name of the preference (which is the same name that would appear in the preference file), and value is the value to which it should be set.

-O <protocols>

Similar to the -V option, but causes TShark to only show a detailed view of the comma-separated list of protocols specified, and show only the top-level detail line for all other protocols, rather than a detailed view of all protocols. Use the output of "tshark -G protocols" to find the abbreviations of the protocols you can specify.

-p

Don't put the interface into promiscuous mode. Note that the interface might be in promiscuous mode for some other reason; hence, -p cannot be used to ensure that the only traffic that is captured is traffic sent to or from the machine on which TShark is running, broadcast traffic, and multicast traffic to addresses received by that machine.

This option can occur multiple times. If used before the first occurrence of the -i option, no interface will be put into the promiscuous mode. If used after an -i option, the interface specified by the last -i option occurring before this option will not be put into the promiscuous mode.

-P

--print

Decode and display the packet summary or details, even if writing raw packet data using the -w option, and even if packet output is otherwise suppressed with -Q.

-q

When capturing packets, don't display the continuous count of packets captured that is normally shown when saving a capture to a file; instead, just display, at the end of the capture, a count of packets captured. On systems that support the SIGINFO signal, such as various BSDs, you can cause the current count to be displayed by typing your "status" character (typically control-T, although it might be set to "disabled" by default on at least some BSDs, so you'd have to explicitly set it to use it).

When reading a capture file, or when capturing and not saving to a file, don't print packet information; this is useful if you're using a -z option to calculate statistics and don't want the packet information printed, just the statistics.

-Q

When capturing packets, don't display, on the standard error, the initial message indicating on which interfaces the capture is being done, the continuous count of packets captured shown when saving a capture to a file, and the final message giving the count of packets captured. Only true errors are displayed on the standard error.

only display true errors; don't display the initial message indicating the. This outputs less than the -q option, so the interface name and total packet count and the end of a capture are not sent to stderr.

When reading a capture file, or when capturing and not saving to a file, don't print packet information; this is useful if you're using a -z option to calculate statistics and don't want the packet information printed, just the statistics.

-r <infile>

Read packet data from infile, can be any supported capture file format (including gzipped files). It is possible to use named pipes or stdin (-) here but only with certain (not compressed) capture file formats (in particular: those that can be read without seeking backwards).

-R <Read filter>

Cause the specified filter (which uses the syntax of read/display filters, rather than that of capture filters) to be applied during the first pass of analysis. Packets not matching the filter are not considered for future passes. Only makes sense with multiple passes, see -2. For regular filtering on single-pass dissect see -Y instead.

Note that forward-looking fields such as 'response in frame #' cannot be used with this filter, since they will not have been calculate when this filter is applied.

-s <capture snaplen>

Set the default snapshot length to use when capturing live data. No more than snaplen bytes of each network packet will be read into memory, or saved to disk. A value of 0 specifies a snapshot length of 262144, so that the full packet is captured; this is the default.

This option can occur multiple times. If used before the first occurrence of the -i option, it sets the default snapshot length. If used after an -i option, it sets the snapshot length for the interface specified by the last -i option occurring before this option. If the snapshot length is not set specifically, the default snapshot length is used if provided.

-S <separator>

Set the line separator to be printed between packets.

-t a|ad|adoy|d|dd|e|r|u|ud|udoy

Set the format of the packet timestamp printed in summary lines. The format can be one of:

a absolute: The absolute time, as local time in your time zone, is the actual time the packet was captured, with no date displayed

ad absolute with date: The absolute date, displayed as YYYY-MM-DD, and time, as local time in your time zone, is the actual time and date the packet was captured

adoy absolute with date using day of year: The absolute date, displayed as YYYY/DOY, and time, as local time in your time zone, is the actual time and date the packet was captured

d delta: The delta time is the time since the previous packet was captured

dd delta_displayed: The delta_displayed time is the time since the previous displayed packet was captured

e epoch: The time in seconds since epoch (Jan 1, 1970 00:00:00)

r relative: The relative time is the time elapsed between the first packet and the current packet

u UTC: The absolute time, as UTC, is the actual time the packet was captured, with no date displayed

ud UTC with date: The absolute date, displayed as YYYY-MM-DD, and time, as UTC, is the actual time and date the packet was captured

udoy UTC with date using day of year: The absolute date, displayed as YYYY/DOY, and time, as UTC, is the actual time and date the packet was captured

The default format is relative.

-T ek|fields|json|jsonraw|pdml|ps|psml|tabs|text

Set the format of the output when viewing decoded packet data. The options are one of:

ek Newline delimited JSON format for bulk import into Elasticsearch. It can be used with -j or -J including the JSON filter or with -x to include raw hex-encoded packet data. If -P is specified it will print the packet summary only, with both -P and -V it will print the packet summary and packet details. If neither -P or -V are used it will print the packet details only. Example of usage to import data into Elasticsearch:

  tshark -T ek -j "http tcp ip" -P -V -x -r file.pcap > file.json
  curl -H "Content-Type: application/x-ndjson" -XPOST http://elasticsearch:9200/_bulk --data-binary "@file.json"
    

fields The values of fields specified with the -e option, in a form specified by the -E option. For example,

  -T fields -E separator=, -E quote=d
    

would generate comma-separated values (CSV) output suitable for importing into your favorite spreadsheet program.

json JSON file format. It can be used with -j or -J including the JSON filter or with -x option to include raw hex-encoded packet data. Example of usage:

  tshark -T json -r file.pcap
  tshark -T json -j "http tcp ip" -x -r file.pcap
    

jsonraw JSON file format including only raw hex-encoded packet data. It can be used with -j including or -J the JSON filter option. Example of usage:

  tshark -T jsonraw -r file.pcap
  tshark -T jsonraw -j "http tcp ip" -x -r file.pcap
    

pdml Packet Details Markup Language, an XML-based format for the details of a decoded packet. This information is equivalent to the packet details printed with the -V option. Using the --color option will add color attributes to pdml output. These attributes are nonstandard.

ps PostScript for a human-readable one-line summary of each of the packets, or a multi-line view of the details of each of the packets, depending on whether the -V option was specified.

psml Packet Summary Markup Language, an XML-based format for the summary information of a decoded packet. This information is equivalent to the information shown in the one-line summary printed by default. Using the --color option will add color attributes to pdml output. These attributes are nonstandard.

tabs Similar to the default text report except the human-readable one-line summary of each packet will include an ASCII horizontal tab (0x09) character as a delimiter between each column.

text Text of a human-readable one-line summary of each of the packets, or a multi-line view of the details of each of the packets, depending on whether the -V option was specified. This is the default.

-u <seconds type>

Specifies the seconds type. Valid choices are:

s for seconds

hms for hours, minutes and seconds

-U <tap name>

PDUs export, exports PDUs from infile to outfile according to the tap name given. Use -Y to filter.

Enter an empty tap name "" to get a list of available names.

-v

--version

Print the version and exit.

-V

Cause TShark to print a view of the packet details.

-w <outfile> | -

Write raw packet data to outfile or to the standard output if outfile is '-'.

NOTE: -w provides raw packet data, not text. If you want text output you need to redirect stdout (e.g. using '>'), don't use the -w option for this.

-W <file format option>

Save extra information in the file if the format supports it. For example,

  -F pcapng -W n
    

will save host name resolution records along with captured packets.

Future versions of Wireshark may automatically change the capture format to pcapng as needed.

The argument is a string that may contain the following letter:

n write network address resolution information (pcapng only)

-x

Cause TShark to print a hex and ASCII dump of the packet data after printing the summary and/or details, if either are also being displayed.

-X <eXtension options>

Specify an option to be passed to a TShark module. The eXtension option is in the form extension_key:value, where extension_key can be:

lua_script:lua_script_filename tells TShark to load the given script in addition to the default Lua scripts.

lua_scriptnum:argument tells TShark to pass the given argument to the lua script identified by 'num', which is the number indexed order of the 'lua_script' command. For example, if only one script was loaded with '-X lua_script:my.lua', then '-X lua_script1:foo' will pass the string 'foo' to the 'my.lua' script. If two scripts were loaded, such as '-X lua_script:my.lua' and '-X lua_script:other.lua' in that order, then a '-X lua_script2:bar' would pass the string 'bar' to the second lua script, namely 'other.lua'.

read_format:file_format tells TShark to use the given file format to read in the file (the file given in the -r command option). Providing no file_format argument, or an invalid one, will produce a file of available file formats to use.

-y <capture link type>

Set the data link type to use while capturing packets. The values reported by -L are the values that can be used.

This option can occur multiple times. If used before the first occurrence of the -i option, it sets the default capture link type. If used after an -i option, it sets the capture link type for the interface specified by the last -i option occurring before this option. If the capture link type is not set specifically, the default capture link type is used if provided.

-Y <displaY filter>

Cause the specified filter (which uses the syntax of read/display filters, rather than that of capture filters) to be applied before printing a decoded form of packets or writing packets to a file. Packets matching the filter are printed or written to file; packets that the matching packets depend upon (e.g., fragments), are not printed but are written to file; packets not matching the filter nor depended upon are discarded rather than being printed or written.

Use this instead of -R for filtering using single-pass analysis. If doing two-pass analysis (see -2) then only packets matching the read filter (if there is one) will be checked against this filter.

-M <auto session reset>

Automatically reset internal session when reached to specified number of packets. for example,

    -M 100000
    

will reset session every 100000 packets.

This feature does not support -2 two-pass analysis

-z <statistics>

Get TShark to collect various types of statistics and display the result after finishing reading the capture file. Use the -q option if you're reading a capture file and only want the statistics printed, not any per-packet information.

Note that the -z proto option is different - it doesn't cause statistics to be gathered and printed when the capture is complete, it modifies the regular packet summary output to include the values of fields specified with the option. Therefore you must not use the -q option, as that option would suppress the printing of the regular packet summary output, and must also not use the -V option, as that would cause packet detail information rather than packet summary information to be printed.

Currently implemented statistics are:

--capture-comment <comment>

Add a capture comment to the output file.

This option is only available if a new output file in pcapng format is created. Only one capture comment may be set per output file.

--list-time-stamp-types

List time stamp types supported for the interface. If no time stamp type can be set, no time stamp types are listed.

--time-stamp-type <type>

Change the interface's timestamp method.

--color

Enable coloring of packets according to standard Wireshark color filters. On Windows colors are limited to the standard console character attribute colors. Other platforms require a terminal that handles 24-bit "true color" terminal escape sequences. See <https://wiki.wireshark.org/ColoringRules> for more information on configuring color filters.

--no-duplicate-keys

If a key appears multiple times in an object, only write it a single time with as value a json array containing all the separate values. (Only works with -T json)

--export-objects <protocol>,<destdir>

Export all objects within a protocol into directory destdir. The available values for protocol can be listed with --export-objects help.

The objects are directly saved in the given directory. Filenames are dependent on the dissector, but typically it is named after the basename of a file. Duplicate files are not overwritten, instead an increasing number is appended before the file extension.

This interface is subject to change, adding the possibility to filter on files.

--enable-protocol <proto_name>

Enable dissection of proto_name.

--disable-protocol <proto_name>

Disable dissection of proto_name.

--enable-heuristic <short_name>

Enable dissection of heuristic protocol.

--disable-heuristic <short_name>

Disable dissection of heuristic protocol.

CAPTURE FILTER SYNTAX¶

See the manual page of pcap-filter(7) or, if that doesn't exist, tcpdump(8), or, if that doesn't exist, <https://wiki.wireshark.org/CaptureFilters>.

READ FILTER SYNTAX¶

For a complete table of protocol and protocol fields that are filterable in TShark see the wireshark-filter(4) manual page.

FILES¶

These files contains various Wireshark configuration values.

Preferences

The preferences files contain global (system-wide) and personal preference settings. If the system-wide preference file exists, it is read first, overriding the default settings. If the personal preferences file exists, it is read next, overriding any previous values. Note: If the command line option -o is used (possibly more than once), it will in turn override values from the preferences files.

The preferences settings are in the form prefname:value, one per line, where prefname is the name of the preference and value is the value to which it should be set; white space is allowed between : and value. A preference setting can be continued on subsequent lines by indenting the continuation lines with white space. A # character starts a comment that runs to the end of the line:

  # Capture in promiscuous mode?
  # TRUE or FALSE (case-insensitive).
  capture.prom_mode: TRUE
    

The global preferences file is looked for in the wireshark directory under the share subdirectory of the main installation directory (for example, /usr/local/share/wireshark/preferences) on UNIX-compatible systems, and in the main installation directory (for example, C:\Program Files\Wireshark\preferences) on Windows systems.

The personal preferences file is looked for in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/wireshark/preferences (or, if $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/wireshark does not exist while $HOME/.wireshark is present, $HOME/.wireshark/preferences) on UNIX-compatible systems and %APPDATA%\Wireshark\preferences (or, if %APPDATA% isn't defined, %USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Wireshark\preferences) on Windows systems.

Disabled (Enabled) Protocols

The disabled_protos files contain system-wide and personal lists of protocols that have been disabled, so that their dissectors are never called. The files contain protocol names, one per line, where the protocol name is the same name that would be used in a display filter for the protocol:

  http
  tcp     # a comment
    

The global disabled_protos file uses the same directory as the global preferences file.

The personal disabled_protos file uses the same directory as the personal preferences file.

Name Resolution (hosts)

If the personal hosts file exists, it is used to resolve IPv4 and IPv6 addresses before any other attempts are made to resolve them. The file has the standard hosts file syntax; each line contains one IP address and name, separated by whitespace. The same directory as for the personal preferences file is used.

Capture filter name resolution is handled by libpcap on UNIX-compatible systems and WinPcap on Windows. As such the Wireshark personal hosts file will not be consulted for capture filter name resolution.

Name Resolution (subnets)

If an IPv4 address cannot be translated via name resolution (no exact match is found) then a partial match is attempted via the subnets file.

Each line of this file consists of an IPv4 address, a subnet mask length separated only by a / and a name separated by whitespace. While the address must be a full IPv4 address, any values beyond the mask length are subsequently ignored.

An example is:

# Comments must be prepended by the # sign! 192.168.0.0/24 ws_test_network

A partially matched name will be printed as "subnet-name.remaining-address". For example, "192.168.0.1" under the subnet above would be printed as "ws_test_network.1"; if the mask length above had been 16 rather than 24, the printed address would be ``ws_test_network.0.1".

Name Resolution (ethers)

The ethers files are consulted to correlate 6-byte hardware addresses to names. First the personal ethers file is tried and if an address is not found there the global ethers file is tried next.

Each line contains one hardware address and name, separated by whitespace. The digits of the hardware address are separated by colons (:), dashes (-) or periods (.). The same separator character must be used consistently in an address. The following three lines are valid lines of an ethers file:

  ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff          Broadcast
  c0-00-ff-ff-ff-ff          TR_broadcast
  00.00.00.00.00.00          Zero_broadcast
    

The global ethers file is looked for in the /etc directory on UNIX-compatible systems, and in the main installation directory (for example, C:\Program Files\Wireshark) on Windows systems.

The personal ethers file is looked for in the same directory as the personal preferences file.

Capture filter name resolution is handled by libpcap on UNIX-compatible systems and WinPcap on Windows. As such the Wireshark personal ethers file will not be consulted for capture filter name resolution.

Name Resolution (manuf)

The manuf file is used to match the 3-byte vendor portion of a 6-byte hardware address with the manufacturer's name; it can also contain well-known MAC addresses and address ranges specified with a netmask. The format of the file is the same as the ethers files, except that entries of the form:

  00:00:0C      Cisco
    

can be provided, with the 3-byte OUI and the name for a vendor, and entries such as:

  00-00-0C-07-AC/40     All-HSRP-routers
    

can be specified, with a MAC address and a mask indicating how many bits of the address must match. The above entry, for example, has 40 significant bits, or 5 bytes, and would match addresses from 00-00-0C-07-AC-00 through 00-00-0C-07-AC-FF. The mask need not be a multiple of 8.

The manuf file is looked for in the same directory as the global preferences file.

Name Resolution (services)

The services file is used to translate port numbers into names.

The file has the standard services file syntax; each line contains one (service) name and one transport identifier separated by white space. The transport identifier includes one port number and one transport protocol name (typically tcp, udp, or sctp) separated by a /.

An example is:

mydns 5045/udp # My own Domain Name Server mydns 5045/tcp # My own Domain Name Server

Name Resolution (ipxnets)

The ipxnets files are used to correlate 4-byte IPX network numbers to names. First the global ipxnets file is tried and if that address is not found there the personal one is tried next.

The format is the same as the ethers file, except that each address is four bytes instead of six. Additionally, the address can be represented as a single hexadecimal number, as is more common in the IPX world, rather than four hex octets. For example, these four lines are valid lines of an ipxnets file:

  C0.A8.2C.00              HR
  c0-a8-1c-00              CEO
  00:00:BE:EF              IT_Server1
  110f                     FileServer3
    

The global ipxnets file is looked for in the /etc directory on UNIX-compatible systems, and in the main installation directory (for example, C:\Program Files\Wireshark) on Windows systems.

The personal ipxnets file is looked for in the same directory as the personal preferences file.

OUTPUT¶

TShark uses UTF-8 to represent strings internally. In some cases the output might not be valid. For example, a dissector might generate invalid UTF-8 character sequences. Programs reading TShark output should expect UTF-8 and be prepared for invalid output.

If TShark detects that it is writing to a TTY on UNIX or Linux and the locale does not support UTF-8, output will be re-encoded to match the current locale.

If TShark detects that it is writing to a TTY on Windows, output will be encoded as UTF-16LE.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES¶

WIRESHARK_APPDATA

On Windows, Wireshark normally stores all application data in %APPDATA% or %USERPROFILE%. You can override the default location by exporting this environment variable to specify an alternate location.

WIRESHARK_DEBUG_WMEM_OVERRIDE

Setting this environment variable forces the wmem framework to use the specified allocator backend for *all* allocations, regardless of which backend is normally specified by the code. This is mainly useful to developers when testing or debugging. See README.wmem in the source distribution for details.

WIRESHARK_RUN_FROM_BUILD_DIRECTORY

This environment variable causes the plugins and other data files to be loaded from the build directory (where the program was compiled) rather than from the standard locations. It has no effect when the program in question is running with root (or setuid) permissions on *NIX.

WIRESHARK_DATA_DIR

This environment variable causes the various data files to be loaded from a directory other than the standard locations. It has no effect when the program in question is running with root (or setuid) permissions on *NIX.

ERF_RECORDS_TO_CHECK

This environment variable controls the number of ERF records checked when deciding if a file really is in the ERF format. Setting this environment variable a number higher than the default (20) would make false positives less likely.

IPFIX_RECORDS_TO_CHECK

This environment variable controls the number of IPFIX records checked when deciding if a file really is in the IPFIX format. Setting this environment variable a number higher than the default (20) would make false positives less likely.

WIRESHARK_ABORT_ON_DISSECTOR_BUG

If this environment variable is set, TShark will call abort(3) when a dissector bug is encountered. abort(3) will cause the program to exit abnormally; if you are running TShark in a debugger, it should halt in the debugger and allow inspection of the process, and, if you are not running it in a debugger, it will, on some OSes, assuming your environment is configured correctly, generate a core dump file. This can be useful to developers attempting to troubleshoot a problem with a protocol dissector.

WIRESHARK_ABORT_ON_TOO_MANY_ITEMS

If this environment variable is set, TShark will call abort(3) if a dissector tries to add too many items to a tree (generally this is an indication of the dissector not breaking out of a loop soon enough). abort(3) will cause the program to exit abnormally; if you are running TShark in a debugger, it should halt in the debugger and allow inspection of the process, and, if you are not running it in a debugger, it will, on some OSes, assuming your environment is configured correctly, generate a core dump file. This can be useful to developers attempting to troubleshoot a problem with a protocol dissector.

SEE ALSO¶

wireshark-filter(4), wireshark(1), editcap(1), pcap(3), dumpcap(1), text2pcap(1), mergecap(1), pcap-filter(7) or tcpdump(8)

NOTES¶

TShark is part of the Wireshark distribution. The latest version of Wireshark can be found at <https://www.wireshark.org>.

HTML versions of the Wireshark project man pages are available at: <https://www.wireshark.org/docs/man-pages>.

AUTHORS¶

TShark uses the same packet dissection code that Wireshark does, as well as using many other modules from Wireshark; see the list of authors in the Wireshark man page for a list of authors of that code.