Matches is a special case that looks on the RHS and tries
to convert every unparsed value to a string, regardless
of the LHS type. This is not how types work in the display
filter. Require double-quotes to avoid ambiguity, because
matches doesn't follow normal Wireshark display filter
type rules. It doesn't need nor benefit from the flexibility
provided by unparsed strings in the syntax.
For matches the RHS is always a literal strings except
if the RHS is also a field name, then it complains of an
incompatible type. This is confusing. No type can be compatible
because no type rules are ever considered. Every unparsed value is
a text string except if it happens to coincide with a field
name it also requires double-quoting or it throws a syntax error,
just to be difficult. We could remove this odd quirk but requiring
double-quotes for regular expressions is a better, more elegant
fix.
Before:
Filter: tcp matches "udp"
Constants:
00000 PUT_PCRE udp -> reg#1
Instructions:
00000 READ_TREE tcp -> reg#0
00001 IF-FALSE-GOTO 3
00002 ANY_MATCHES reg#0 matches reg#1
00003 RETURN
Filter: tcp matches udp
Constants:
00000 PUT_PCRE udp -> reg#1
Instructions:
00000 READ_TREE tcp -> reg#0
00001 IF-FALSE-GOTO 3
00002 ANY_MATCHES reg#0 matches reg#1
00003 RETURN
Filter: tcp matches udp.srcport
dftest: tcp and udp.srcport are not of compatible types.
Filter: tcp matches udp.srcportt
Constants:
00000 PUT_PCRE udp.srcportt -> reg#1
Instructions:
00000 READ_TREE tcp -> reg#0
00001 IF-FALSE-GOTO 3
00002 ANY_MATCHES reg#0 matches reg#1
00003 RETURN
After:
Filter: tcp matches "udp"
Constants:
00000 PUT_PCRE udp -> reg#1
Instructions:
00000 READ_TREE tcp -> reg#0
00001 IF-FALSE-GOTO 3
00002 ANY_MATCHES reg#0 matches reg#1
00003 RETURN
Filter: tcp matches udp
dftest: "udp" was unexpected in this context.
Filter: tcp matches udp.srcport
dftest: "udp.srcport" was unexpected in this context.
Filter: tcp matches udp.srcportt
dftest: "udp.srcportt" was unexpected in this context.
The error message could still be improved.
a975d478ba