ARPING(8)

📦
this version · 8 versions
, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, fedora 43, fedora 44, nixpkgs unstable, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

🦋 ARPING(8) — the iputils girlies' guide 💅

okay so bestie, this is the manual page for arping, living happily in the iputils package. it sends ARP REQUESTs to a neighbour host and honestly? it's giving network-detective main character energy. let's get into it ✨

🎀 NAME 🎀

arping — send ARP REQUEST to a neighbour host 🫶

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

arping [-AbDfhqUV] [-c count] [-w deadline] [-i interval] [-s source]
       [-I interface] {destination}

like, that's the whole vibe. every flag is a little accessory and you're gonna want to know which one to wear 💖

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so what does it actually do? it pings destination on device interface using ARP packets, with source as the source address. no cap, that's it. 🔥

lowkey important: arping supports IPv4 addresses only. for IPv6 you gotta go see ndisc6(8) — different girl, different manual. 💅

👑 OPTIONS 👑

  • -A — literally the same as -U, except it uses ARP REPLY packets instead of ARP REQUEST. same energy, different packet 💌
  • -b — send only MAC level broadcasts. normally arping starts out sending broadcast and then switches to unicast once a reply comes back — -b says "nope, broadcast forever, I don't trust the switch-up" 📡
  • -c count — stop after sending count ARP REQUEST packets. but with the deadline option, it instead waits for count ARP REPLY packets, or until the timeout expires. two moods, same flag 🎀
  • -D — Duplicate address detection mode (DAD). see RFC2131, 4.4.1. returns 0 if DAD succeeded, i.e. no replies are received. yes bestie, no replies is the win here — iconic reverse logic 🌈
  • -f — finish after the first reply confirming that target is alive. hit it and quit it ✌️
  • -I interface — name of the network device where to send ARP REQUEST packets. tell it which interface to slide into 💜
  • -h — print help page and exit. the "help me help you" option 🫶
  • -q — quiet output. nothing is displayed. not a single crumb. silence, but make it fashion 🤫
  • -s source — IP source address to use in ARP packets. if this option is absent, the source address is:
    • in DAD mode (with option -D) set to 0.0.0.0 🕳️
    • in Unsolicited ARP mode (with options -U or -A) set to destination 🎯
    • otherwise, it is calculated from routing tables 📊
  • -U — Unsolicited ARP mode to update neighbours' ARP caches. no replies are expected. it's giving "I'm just talking, nobody has to answer" 🗣️
  • -V — print version of the program and exit. the "who even are you" option 👀
  • -w deadline — specify a timeout, in seconds, before arping exits regardless of how many packets have been sent or received. if any replies are received, exit with status 0, otherwise status 1. when combined with the count option, exit with status 0 if count replies are received before the deadline expiration, otherwise status 1. it's a hard-launch deadline, bestie ⏰
  • -i interval — specify an interval, in seconds, between packets. pacing is self-care 🧘‍♀️

🔍 SEE ALSO 🔍

ndisc6(8), ping(8), clockdiff(8), tracepath(8). the whole friend group fr fr 💖

💀 AUTHOR 💀

arping was written by Alexey Kuznetsov <kuznet@ms2.inr.ac.ru>. thank you king 👑

🚨 SECURITY 🚨

okay this part is serious, no jokes. arping requires CAP_NET_RAW capability to be executed. it is not recommended to be used as set-uid root, because it allows user to modify ARP caches of neighbour hosts. like, that's a real yikes — do not do that 🙈

🌟 AVAILABILITY 🌟

arping is part of iputils package. home sweet home 🏡

and that's the whole page, bestie — go forth and ARP responsibly 💅✨

sign-off: this lil doc is from iputils 20250605, dated 20250605, and it's filed under ARPING(8). mwah 🎀

📦 where this page comes from