REORDERCAP(1)

📦
version 4.7.4 · 17 versions
, in arch rolling

💅 reordercap — the manual page, bestie edition 🎀

okay so real talk, reordercap is that girl who takes your chaotic capture file and puts every single frame in its correct time-order moment. literally the ultimate glow-up for your packets. ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

reordercap — reorder that input file by timestamp and serve it back to you as an output file, periodt. 💖

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

reordercap [ -n ] <infile> <outfile>

reordercap -h|--help

reordercap -v|--version

like, that's the whole vibe check. 🫶

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So reordercap is this iconic little program that reads an input capture file and rewrites the frames into an output capture file — except the frames are all sorted by increasing timestamp. it's giving "i fixed your timeline, you're welcome." 💅

This is lowkey a lifesaver when your capture files were made by combining frames from more than one well-synchronised source, but the frames didn't get combined in strict time order. we've all been there. 😭

reordercap writes the output capture file in the same format as the input capture file. no format swaps, no surprises. 👑

She can detect, read, and write the same capture files that are supported by Wireshark. Your input file doesn't need a specific filename extension — the file format and an optional gzip, zstd, or lz4 compression will be automatically detected. it's magic, honestly. 🧚

Near the beginning of the DESCRIPTION section of wireshark(1) or at https://www.wireshark.org/docs/man-pages/wireshark.html there's a detailed description of the way Wireshark handles this — and reordercap handles it the exact same way. iykyk. 🌈

💜 OPTIONS 💜

  • -h|--help — prints the version number and options, then bounces. super helpful, super quick. ✌️
  • -n — when you use the -n option, reordercap will not write out the output file if it finds that the input file is already in order. like, she checked, you're already slaying, no need to redo it. 🔥
  • -v|--version — prints the full version information and exits. the receipts, basically. 🧾

🩺 DIAGNOSTIC OPTIONS 🩺

  • --log-level <level> — sets the active log level. Supported levels from lowest to highest are "noisy", "debug", "info", "message", "warning", "critical", and "error". Messages at each level and higher will be printed — for example, "warning" prints "warning", "critical", and "error" messages, and "noisy" prints all messages. Levels are case insensitive. 💅
  • --log-fatal <level> — aborts the program if any messages are logged at the specified level or higher. for example, "warning" aborts on any "warning", "critical", or "error" messages. she's dramatic but fair. 💀
  • --log-fatal-count <count> — the amount of fatal log messages which may pass before the program is aborted. so like, a vibe tolerance threshold. 🙈
  • --log-domains <list> — only prints messages for the specified log domains, e.g. "GUI,Epan,sshdump". the list of domains must be comma-separated. can be negated with "!" as the first character (inverts the match). ✨
  • --log-debug <list> — forces the specified domains to log at the "debug" level. the list of domains must be comma-separated. can be negated with "!" as the first character (inverts the match). 🐛
  • --log-noisy <list> — forces the specified domains to log at the "noisy" level. the list of domains must be comma-separated. can be negated with "!" as the first character (inverts the match). 📣
  • --log-fatal-domains <list> — aborts the program if any messages are logged for the specified log domains. the list of domains must be comma-separated. no chill, only abort. 💅
  • --log-file <path> — writes log messages and stderr output to the specified file. everything in one place, very organized, very demure. 🎀

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

pcap(3), wireshark(1), tshark(1), dumpcap(1), editcap(1), mergecap(1), text2pcap(1), pcap-filter(7) or tcpdump(8) — the whole squad, fr fr. 🫶

📝 NOTES 📝

This is the manual page for Reordercap 4.7.4. Reordercap is part of the Wireshark distribution. The latest version of Wireshark can be found at https://www.wireshark.org. 🌐

It may make sense to move this functionality into editcap, or perhaps mergecap, in which case reordercap could be retired. so like, she might be getting phased out eventually, but for now she's still here and still iconic. 😭

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

💖 AUTHORS 💖

Original Author Martin Mathieson <martin.r.mathieson[AT]googlemail.com>

like, give credit where credit is due, bestie. 👏

ngl this whole page was written on 2026-10-08 and that's the date, no cap. REORDERCAP(1) forever, mwah. 💋✨
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