You can type filter syntax right into this field and watch in wonder as your once jumbled pile of messages transforms into a neat clean stack ordered how you tell it. The most visible and easy to use spot is right in front of you! You can compare values in packets, search for strings, hide protocols you don't need, and so much more. Thankfully, Wireshark includes a rich yet simple filter language that allows you to build quite complex expressions. Moving into larger wireless networks, the sheer amount of broadcast traffic alone will slow you down and get in your way.

Working from this mess would be a headache! Servers are broadcasting, computers are asking for webpages, and on top of this, the colors are difficult to digest with confusing number sequences to boot. When you first fire up Wireshark, it can be daunting. I am simply using filters to manage the view. All examples below are from a 10 minute period of packet capture on my lab network. Sometimes, the hardest part about setting a filter in Wireshark is remembering the syntax, so below are the top display filters that I use. You can filter on just about any field of any protocol, even down to the hex values in a data stream.

The filtering capabilities here are very comprehensive.

Wireshark display filter by post