NAME

SYNOPSIS

  rwcut [{--fields=FIELDS | --all-fields}]
        {[--start-rec-num=START_NUM] [--end-rec-num=END_NUM]
         | [--tail-recs=TAIL_START_NUM]}
        [--num-recs=REC_COUNT] [--dry-run] [--icmp-type-and-code]
        [--timestamp-format=FORMAT] [--epoch-time]
        [--ip-format=FORMAT] [--integer-ips] [--zero-pad-ips]
        [--integer-sensors] [--integer-tcp-flags]
        [--no-titles] [--no-columns] [--column-separator=CHAR]
        [--no-final-delimiter] [{--delimited | --delimited=CHAR}]
        [--print-filenames] [--copy-input=PATH] [--output-path=PATH]
        [--pager=PAGER_PROG] [--site-config-file=FILENAME]
        [--ipv6-policy={ignore,asv4,mix,force,only}]
        [{--legacy-timestamps | --legacy-timestamps={1,0}}]
        [--plugin=PLUGIN [--plugin=PLUGIN ...]]
        [--python-file=PATH [--python-file=PATH ...]]
        [--pmap-file=MAPNAME:PATH [--pmap-file=MAPNAME:PATH ...]]
        [--pmap-column-width=NUM]
        {[--xargs] | [--xargs=FILENAME] | [FILE [FILE ...]]}

  rwcut [--pmap-file=MAPNAME:PATH [--pmap-file=MAPNAME:PATH ...]]
        [--plugin=PLUGIN ...] [--python-file=PATH ...] --help

  rwcut [--pmap-file=MAPNAME:PATH [--pmap-file=MAPNAME:PATH ...]]
        [--plugin=PLUGIN ...] [--python-file=PATH ...] --help-fields

  rwcut --version

DESCRIPTION

rwcut reads SiLK Flow records from the files named on the command line or from the standard input when no file names are specified and --xargs is not present. To read the standard input in addition to the named files, use "-" or "stdin" as a file name. If an input file name ends in ".gz", the file is uncompressed as it is read. When the --xargs switch is provided, rwcut reads the names of the files to process from the named text file or from the standard input if no file name argument is provided to the switch. The input to --xargs must contain one file name per line.

The user may provide the --fields switch to select the record attributes to print. When --fields is not specified rwcut prints the source and destination IP address, source and destination port, protocol, packet count, byte count, TCP flags, start time, duration, end time, and the sensor name. The fields are printed in the order in which they occur in the --fields switch. Fields may be repeated.

A subset of the input records may be selected by using the --start-rec-num, --end-rec-num, --num-recs, and --tail-recs switches.

OPTIONS

--fields=FIELDS

FIELDS contains the list of flow attributes (a.k.a. fields or columns) to print. The columns will be displayed in the order the fields are specified. Fields may be repeated. FIELDS is a comma separated list of field-names, field-integers, and ranges of field-integers; a range is specified by separating the start and end of the range with a hyphen (-). Field-names are case-insensitive. Example:

 --fields=stime,10,1-5
    

If the --fields switch is not given, FIELDS defaults to:

 sIP,dIP,sPort,dPort,protocol,packets,bytes,flags,sTime,dur,eTime,sensor
    

The complete list of built-in fields that the SiLK tool suite supports follows, though note that not all fields are present in all SiLK file formats; when a field is not present, its value is 0.

--all-fields

Instruct rwcut to print all known fields. This switch may not be combined with the --fields switch. This switch suppresses error messages from the plug-ins.

--plugin=PLUGIN

Augment the list of fields by using run-time loading of the plug-in (shared object) whose path is PLUGIN. The switch may be repeated to load multiple plug-ins. The creation of plug-ins is described in the silk-plugin(3) manual page. When PLUGIN does not contain a slash ("/"), rwcut will attempt to find a file named PLUGIN in the directories listed in the "FILES" section. If rwcut finds the file, it uses that path. If PLUGIN contains a slash or if rwcut does not find the file, rwcut relies on your operating system's dlopen(3) call to find the file. When the SILK_PLUGIN_DEBUG environment variable is non-empty, rwcut prints status messages to the standard error as it attempts to find and open each of its plug-ins.

--start-rec-num=START_NUM

Begin printing with the START_NUM'th record by skipping the first START_NUM-1 records. The default is 1; that is, to start printing at the first record; START_NUM must be a positive integer. If START_NUM is greater than the number of input records, rwcut only outputs the title. This switch may not be combined with the --tail-recs switch. When using multiple input files, records are treated as a single stream for the purposes of the --start-rec-num, --end-rec-num, --tail-recs, and --num-recs switches. This switch does not affect the records written to the stream specified by --copy-input.

--end-rec-num=END_NUM

Stop printing after the END_NUM'th record. When END_NUM is 0, the default, printing stops once all input records have been printed; that is, END_NUM is effectively infinity. If this value is non-zero, it must not be less than START_NUM. This switch may not be combined with the --tail-recs switch. When using multiple input files, records are treated as a single stream for the purposes of the --start-rec-num, --end-rec-num, --tail-recs, and --num-recs switches. This switch does not affect the records written to the stream specified by --copy-input.

--tail-recs=TAIL_START_NUM

Begin printing once rwcut is TAIL_START_NUM records from end of the input stream, where TAIL_START_NUM is a positive integer. rwcut will print the remaining records in the input stream unless --num-recs is also specified and is less than TAIL_START_NUM. The --tail-recs switch is similar to the --start-rec-num switch except it counts from the end of the input stream. This switch may not be combined with the --start-rec-num and --end-rec-num switches. When using multiple input files, records are treated as a single stream for the purposes of the --start-rec-num, --end-rec-num, --tail-recs, and --num-recs switches. This switch does not affect the records written to the stream specified by --copy-input.

--num-recs=REC_COUNT

Print no more than REC_COUNT records. Specifying a REC_COUNT of 0 will print all records, which is the default. This switch is ignored under the following conditions: When both --start-rec-num and --end-rec-num are specified; when only --end-rec-num is given and END_NUM is less than REC_COUNT; when --tail-recs is specified and TAIL_START_NUM is less than REC_COUNT. When using multiple input files, records are treated as a single stream for the purposes of the --start-rec-num, --end-rec-num, --tail-recs, and --num-recs switches. This switch does not affect the records written to the stream specified by --copy-input.

--dry-run

Causes rwcut to print the column headers and exit. Useful for testing.

--icmp-type-and-code

Unlike TCP or UDP, ICMP messages do not use ports, but instead have types and codes. Specifying this switch will cause rwcut to print, for ICMP records, the message's type and code in the sPort and dPort columns, respectively. Use of this switch has been discouraged since SiLK 0.9.10. As for SiLK 3.8.1, this switch is deprecated and it will be removed in SiLK 4.0; use the iType and iCode fields instead.

--timestamp-format=FORMAT

Specify the format, timezone, and/or modifier to use when printing timestamps. When this switch is not specified, the SILK_TIMESTAMP_FORMAT environment variable is checked for a format, timezone, and modifier. If it is empty or contains invalid values, timestamps are printed in the default format, and the timezone is UTC unless SiLK was compiled with local timezone support. FORMAT is a comma-separated list of a format, a timezone, and/or a modifier. The format is one of:

--epoch-time

Print timestamps as epoch time (number of seconds since midnight GMT on 1970-01-01). This switch is equivalent to --timestamp-format=epoch, it is deprecated as of SiLK 3.0.0, and it will be removed in the SiLK 4.0 release.

--ip-format=FORMAT

Specify how IP addresses are printed, where FORMAT is a comma-separated list of the arguments described below. When this switch is not specified, the SILK_IP_FORMAT environment variable is checked for a value and that format is used if it is valid. The default FORMAT is "canonical" according to whether the individual flow record is marked as IPv4 or IPv6. Since SiLK 3.7.0.

--integer-ips

Print IP addresses as integers. This switch is equivalent to --ip-format=decimal, it is deprecated as of SiLK 3.7.0, and it will be removed in the SiLK 4.0 release.

--zero-pad-ips

Print IP addresses as fully-expanded, zero-padded values in their canonical form. This switch is equivalent to --ip-format=zero-padded, it is deprecated as of SiLK 3.7.0, and it will be removed in the SiLK 4.0 release.

--integer-sensors

Print the integer ID of the sensor rather than its name.

--integer-tcp-flags

Print the TCP flag fields (flags, initialFlags, sessionFlags) as an integer value. Typically, the characters "F,S,R,P,A,U,E,C" are used to represent the TCP flags.

--no-titles

Turn off column titles. By default, titles are printed.

--no-columns

Disable fixed-width columnar output.

--column-separator=C

Use specified character between columns and after the final column. When this switch is not specified, the default of '|' is used.

--no-final-delimiter

Do not print the column separator after the final column. Normally a delimiter is printed.

--delimited

--delimited=C

Run as if --no-columns --no-final-delimiter --column-sep=C had been specified. That is, disable fixed-width columnar output; if character C is provided, it is used as the delimiter between columns instead of the default '|'.

--print-filenames

Print to the standard error the names of input files as they are opened.

--copy-input=PATH

Copy all binary SiLK Flow records read as input to the specified file or named pipe. PATH may be "stdout" or "-" to write flows to the standard output as long as the --output-path switch is specified to redirect rwcut's textual output to a different location.

--output-path=PATH

Write the textual output to PATH, where PATH is a filename, a named pipe, the keyword "stderr" to write the output to the standard error, or the keyword "stdout" or "-" to write the output to the standard output (and bypass the paging program). If PATH names an existing file, rwcut exits with an error unless the SILK_CLOBBER environment variable is set, in which case PATH is overwritten. If this switch is not given, the output is either sent to the pager or written to the standard output.

--pager=PAGER_PROG

When output is to a terminal, invoke the program PAGER_PROG to view the output one screen full at a time. This switch overrides the SILK_PAGER environment variable, which in turn overrides the PAGER variable. If the --output-path switch is given or if the value of the pager is determined to be the empty string, no paging is performed and all output is written to the terminal.

--ipv6-policy=POLICY

Determine how IPv4 and IPv6 flows are handled when SiLK has been compiled with IPv6 support. When the switch is not provided, the SILK_IPV6_POLICY environment variable is checked for a policy. If it is also unset or contains an invalid policy, the POLICY is mix. When SiLK has not been compiled with IPv6 support, IPv6 flows are always ignored, regardless of the value passed to this switch or in the SILK_IPV6_POLICY variable. The supported values for POLICY are:

--site-config-file=FILENAME

Read the SiLK site configuration from the named file FILENAME. When this switch is not provided, rwcut searches for the site configuration file in the locations specified in the "FILES" section.

--legacy-timestamps

--legacy-timestamps=NUM

When NUM is not specified or is 1, this switch is equivalent to --timestamp-format=m/d/y,no-msec. Otherwise, the switch has no effect. This switch is deprecated as of SiLK 3.0.0, and it will be removed in the SiLK 4.0 release.

--xargs

--xargs=FILENAME

Read the names of the input files from FILENAME or from the standard input if FILENAME is not provided. The input is expected to have one filename per line. rwcut opens each named file in turn and reads records from it as if the filenames had been listed on the command line.

--help

Print the available options and exit. Specifying switches that add new fields or additional switches before --help will allow the output to include descriptions of those fields or switches.

--help-fields

Print the description and alias(es) of each field and exit. Specifying switches that add new fields before --help-fields will allow the output to include descriptions of those fields.

--version

Print the version number and information about how SiLK was configured, then exit the application.

--pmap-file=PATH

--pmap-file=MAPNAME:PATH

Load the prefix map file located at PATH and create fields named src-map-name and dst-map-name where map-name is either the MAPNAME part of the argument or the map-name specified when the file was created (see rwpmapbuild(1)). If no map-name is available, rwcut names the fields "sval" and "dval". Specify PATH as "-" or "stdin" to read from the standard input. The switch may be repeated to load multiple prefix map files, but each prefix map must use a unique map-name. The --pmap-file switch(es) must precede the --fields switch. See also pmapfilter(3).

--pmap-column-width=NUM

When printing a label associated with a prefix map, this switch gives the maximum number of characters to use when displaying the textual value of the field.

--python-file=PATH

When the SiLK Python plug-in is used, rwcut reads the Python code from the file PATH to define additional fields for possible output. This file should call register_field() for each field it wishes to define. For details and examples, see the silkpython(3) and pysilk(3) manual pages.

EXAMPLES

The standard output from rwcut resembles the following (with the text wrapped for readability):

            sIP|            dIP|sPort|dPort|pro|\
    10.30.30.31|    10.70.70.71|   80|36761|  6|\

        packets|     bytes|    flags|\
              7|      3227|FS PA    |\

                    sTime| duration|                  eTime|senso|
  2003/01/01T00:00:14.625|    3.959|2003/01/01T00:00:18.584|EDGE1|

The first line of the output is the title line which shows the names of the selected fields; the --no-titles switch will disable the printing of the title line. The second line and onward will contain the printed representation of the records, with one line per record.

A common use of rwcut is to read the output of rwfilter(1). For example, to see representative TCP traffic:

 $ rwfilter --start-date=2002/01/19:00 --end-date=2002/01/19:01     \
        --proto=6 --pass=stdout                                     \
   | rwcut

To see only selected fields, use the --fields switch. For example, to print only the protocol for each record in the input file data.rw, use:

 $ rwcut --fields=proto  data.rw

The silkpython(3) manual page provides examples that use PySiLK to create and print arbitrary fields for rwcut.

The order of the FIELDS is significant, and fields can be repeated. For example, here is a case where in addition to the default fields of 1-12, you also to prefix each row with an integer form of the destination IP and the start time to make processing by another tool (e.g., a spreadsheet) easier. However, within the default fields of 1-12, you want to see dotted-decimal IP addresses. (The num2dot(1) tool converts the numeric fields in column positions three and four to dotted quad IPs.)

 $ rwfilter ... --pass=stdout \
   | rwcut --fields=2,9,1-12 --ip-format=decimal --timestamp-format=epoch \
   | num2dot --ip-field=3,4

Both of the following commands print the title line and the first record in the input stream:

 $ rwcut --num-recs=1  data.rw

 $ rwcut --end-rec-num=1  data.rw

The following prints all records except the first (plus the title):

 $ rwcut --start-rec-num=2  data.rw

These three commands print only the second record:

 $ rwcut --no-title --start-rec-num=2 --num-recs=1  data.rw

 $ rwcut --no-title --start-rec-num=2 --end-rec-num=2  data.rw

 $ rwcut --no-title --end-rec-num=2 --num-recs=1  data.rw

This command prints the title line and the final record in the input stream:

 $ rwcut --tail-recs=1  data.rw

This command prints the next to last record in the input stream:

 $ rwcut --no-title --tail-recs=2 --num-recs=1  data.rw

Using the "sIP" and "dIP" fields can be confusing when the file you are examining contains both incoming and outgoing flow records. To make the output more clear, consider using the int-ext-fields(3) plug-in. The plug-in defines four additional fields representing the external IP address, the external port, the internal IP address, and the internal port. The plug-in requires the user to specify which class/type pairs are incoming and which are outgoing. See its manual page for additional information.

 $ rwcut --fields=sip,sport,dip,dport,proto,type \
        --num-rec=8 data.rw
             sIP|sPort|            dIP|dPort|pro|   type|
 192.168.111.201|29617|   172.24.2.123|   53| 17|    out|
    172.24.2.123|   53|192.168.111.201|29617| 17|     in|
 192.168.111.201|29618|  10.252.217.50|   22|  6|    out|
   10.252.217.50|   22|192.168.111.201|29618|  6|     in|
 192.168.204.193|   68|    172.30.2.67|   67| 17|    out|
     172.30.2.67|   67|192.168.204.193|   68| 17|     in|
   10.239.85.193|29897|192.168.228.153|   25|  6|     in|
 192.168.228.153|   25|  10.239.85.193|29897|  6|    out|

 $ export INCOMING_FLOWTYPES=all/in,all/inweb
 $ export OUTGOING_FLOWTYPES=all/out,all/outweb
 $ rwcut --plugin=int-ext-fields.so                         \
        --fields=int-ip,int-port,ext-ip,ext-port,proto,type \
        --num-rec=8 data.rw
          int-ip|int-p|         ext-ip|ext-p|pro|   type|
 192.168.111.201|29617|   172.24.2.123|   53| 17|    out|
 192.168.111.201|29617|   172.24.2.123|   53| 17|     in|
 192.168.111.201|29618|  10.252.217.50|   22|  6|    out|
 192.168.111.201|29618|  10.252.217.50|   22|  6|     in|
 192.168.204.193|   68|    172.30.2.67|   67| 17|    out|
 192.168.204.193|   68|    172.30.2.67|   67| 17|     in|
 192.168.228.153|   25|  10.239.85.193|29897|  6|     in|
 192.168.228.153|   25|  10.239.85.193|29897|  6|    out|

ENVIRONMENT

SILK_IPV6_POLICY

This environment variable is used as the value for --ipv6-policy when that switch is not provided.

SILK_IP_FORMAT

This environment variable is used as the value for --ip-format when that switch is not provided. Since SiLK 3.11.0.

SILK_TIMESTAMP_FORMAT

This environment variable is used as the value for --timestamp-format when that switch is not provided. Since SiLK 3.11.0.

SILK_PAGER

When set to a non-empty string, rwcut automatically invokes this program to display its output a screen at a time. If set to an empty string, rwcut does not automatically page its output.

PAGER

When set and SILK_PAGER is not set, rwcut automatically invokes this program to display its output a screen at a time.

PYTHONPATH

This environment variable is used by Python to locate modules. When --python-file is specified, rwcut must load the Python files that comprise the PySiLK package, such as silk/__init__.py. If this silk/ directory is located outside Python's normal search path (for example, in the SiLK installation tree), it may be necessary to set or modify the PYTHONPATH environment variable to include the parent directory of silk/ so that Python can find the PySiLK module.

SILK_PYTHON_TRACEBACK

When set, Python plug-ins will output traceback information on Python errors to the standard error.

SILK_COUNTRY_CODES

This environment variable allows the user to specify the country code mapping file that rwcut uses when computing the scc and dcc fields. The value may be a complete path or a file relative to the SILK_PATH. See the "FILES" section for standard locations of this file.

SILK_ADDRESS_TYPES

This environment variable allows the user to specify the address type mapping file that rwcut uses when computing the sType and dType fields. The value may be a complete path or a file relative to the SILK_PATH. See the "FILES" section for standard locations of this file.

SILK_CLOBBER

The SiLK tools normally refuse to overwrite existing files. Setting SILK_CLOBBER to a non-empty value removes this restriction.

SILK_CONFIG_FILE

This environment variable is used as the value for the --site-config-file when that switch is not provided.

SILK_DATA_ROOTDIR

This environment variable specifies the root directory of data repository. As described in the "FILES" section, rwcut may use this environment variable when searching for the SiLK site configuration file.

SILK_PATH

This environment variable gives the root of the install tree. When searching for configuration files and plug-ins, rwcut may use this environment variable. See the "FILES" section for details.

TZ

When the argument to the --timestamp-format switch includes "local" or when a SiLK installation is built to use the local timezone, the value of the TZ environment variable determines the timezone in which rwcut displays timestamps. (If both of those are false, the TZ environment variable is ignored.) If the TZ environment variable is not set, the machine's default timezone is used. Setting TZ to the empty string or 0 causes timestamps to be displayed in UTC. For system information on the TZ variable, see tzset(3) or environ(7). (To determine if SiLK was built with support for the local timezone, check the "Timezone support" value in the output of rwcut --version.)

SILK_PLUGIN_DEBUG

When set to 1, rwcut prints status messages to the standard error as it attempts to find and open each of its plug-ins. In addition, when an attempt to register a field fails, rwcut prints a message specifying the additional function(s) that must be defined to register the field in rwcut. Be aware that the output can be rather verbose.

FILES

$SILK_ADDRESS_TYPES

$SILK_PATH/share/silk/address_types.pmap

$SILK_PATH/share/address_types.pmap

/usr/local/share/silk/address_types.pmap

/usr/local/share/address_types.pmap

Possible locations for the address types mapping file required by the sType and dType fields.

${SILK_CONFIG_FILE}

${SILK_DATA_ROOTDIR}/silk.conf

/data/silk.conf

${SILK_PATH}/share/silk/silk.conf

${SILK_PATH}/share/silk.conf

/usr/local/share/silk/silk.conf

/usr/local/share/silk.conf

Possible locations for the SiLK site configuration file which are checked when the --site-config-file switch is not provided.

$SILK_COUNTRY_CODES

$SILK_PATH/share/silk/country_codes.pmap

$SILK_PATH/share/country_codes.pmap

/usr/local/share/silk/country_codes.pmap

/usr/local/share/country_codes.pmap

Possible locations for the country code mapping file required by the scc and dcc fields.

${SILK_PATH}/lib64/silk/

${SILK_PATH}/lib64/

${SILK_PATH}/lib/silk/

${SILK_PATH}/lib/

/usr/local/lib64/silk/

/usr/local/lib64/

/usr/local/lib/silk/

/usr/local/lib/

Directories that rwcut checks when attempting to load a plug-in.

NOTES

 $ rwfilter --proto-17 --dport=1434 --bytes-per-packet=404-404      \
   | rwcut --fields=dip,stime

SEE ALSO