diff --git a/client/commands.go b/client/commands.go
index de46aa1..dac7059 100644
--- a/client/commands.go
+++ b/client/commands.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package client
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"sort"
 	"strings"
 )
 
@@ -317,9 +316,6 @@ func (conn *Conn) Cap(subcommmand string, capabilities ...string) {
 	if len(capabilities) == 0 {
 		conn.Raw(CAP + " " + subcommmand)
 	} else {
-		// make output predictable for testing
-		sort.Strings(capabilities)
-
 		cmdPrefix := CAP + " " + subcommmand + " :"
 		for _, args := range splitArgs(capabilities, defaultSplit-len(cmdPrefix)) {
 			conn.Raw(cmdPrefix + args)
diff --git a/client/handlers.go b/client/handlers.go
index 8ddcafa..d2317df 100644
--- a/client/handlers.go
+++ b/client/handlers.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ package client
 // to manage tracking an irc connection etc.
 
 import (
+	"sort"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
@@ -147,6 +148,8 @@ func (c *capSet) Slice() []string {
 		capSlice = append(capSlice, cap)
 	}
 
+	// make output predictable for testing
+	sort.Strings(capSlice)
 	return capSlice
 }