A packet forwarding method performed by a packet forwarding device, comprising the following steps: obtaining a character word comprised in a packet to be forwarded, wherein the character word is obtained by parsing, according to a preset packet content parsing policy, other content comprised in the packet to be forwarded except a 5-tuple, wherein the 5-tuple comprises a destination IP address, a destination port, a source IP address, a source port, and a protocol; determining, according to a correspondence between different character words and corresponding routing information, routing information corresponding to the obtained character word; sending, according to the determined routing information, the packet to be forwarded; characterized in that the obtaining a character word comprised in a packet to be forwarded specifically comprises: sending, to a controller, the packet to be forwarded, and obtaining a 5-tuple flow table delivered by the controller after the controller performs deep packet inspection, DPI, on the packet to be forwarded, wherein the 5-tuple flow table comprises at least a correspondence between the 5-tuple comprised in the packet to be forwarded and a processing manner of the packet to be forwarded; determining, according to the 5-tuple comprised in the packet to be forward and the 5-tuple flow table, whether the processing manner of the packet to be forwarded is that the packet to be forwarded needs to be forwarded according to the character word comprised in the packet to be forwarded; and when the determination result is that the packet to be forwarded needs to be forwarded according to the character word comprised in the packet to be forwarded, obtaining, by performing DPI on the packet to be forwarded, the character word comprised in the packet to be forwarded. obtaining a character word comprised in a packet to be forwarded, wherein the character word is obtained by parsing, according to a preset packet content parsing policy, other content comprised in the packet to be forwarded except a 5-tuple, wherein the 5-tuple comprises a destination IP address, a destination port, a source IP address, a source port, and a protocol; determining, according to a correspondence between different character words and corresponding routing information, routing information corresponding to the obtained character word; sending, according to the determined routing information, the packet to be forwarded; characterized in that the obtaining a character word comprised in a packet to be forwarded specifically comprises: sending, to a controller, the packet to be forwarded, and obtaining a 5-tuple flow table delivered by the controller after the controller performs deep packet inspection, DPI, on the packet to be forwarded, wherein the 5-tuple flow table comprises at least a correspondence between the 5-tuple comprised in the packet to be forwarded and a processing manner of the packet to be forwarded; determining, according to the 5-tuple comprised in the packet to be forward and the 5-tuple flow table, whether the processing manner of the packet to be forwarded is that the packet to be forwarded needs to be forwarded according to the character word comprised in the packet to be forwarded; and when the determination result is that the packet to be forwarded needs to be forwarded according to the character word comprised in the packet to be forwarded, obtaining, by performing DPI on the packet to be forwarded, the character word comprised in the packet to be forwarded. sending, to a controller, the packet to be forwarded, and obtaining a 5-tuple flow table delivered by the controller after the controller performs deep packet inspection, DPI, on the packet to be forwarded, wherein the 5-tuple flow table comprises at least a correspondence between the 5-tuple comprised in the packet to be forwarded and a processing manner of the packet to be forwarded; determining, according to the 5-tuple comprised in the packet to be forward and the 5-tuple flow table, whether the processing manner of the packet to be forwarded is that the packet to be forwarded needs to be forwarded according to the character word comprised in the packet to be forwarded; and when the determination result is that the packet to be forwarded needs to be forwarded according to the character word comprised in the packet to be forwarded, obtaining, by performing DPI on the packet to be forwarded, the character word comprised in the packet to be forwarded.