Linux: Show / Display Available Network Interfaces

Posted on in Categories , last updated July 12, 2011

How do I display all available network interfaces names under Linux operating systems using bash shell prompt?

You can use the following commands to see all network interfaces under Linux operating systems:

  • ip command – It is used to show or manipulate routing, devices, policy routing and tunnels.
  • netstat command – It is used to display network connections, routing tables, interface statistics, masquerade connections, and multicast memberships.
  • ifconfig command – It is used to display or configure a network interface.

List Network Interfaces Using ip Command

Type the following command, enter:
$ ip link show
Sample outputs:

$ 1: lo:  mtu 16436 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN 
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: eth0:  mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP qlen 1000
    link/ether b8:ac:6f:65:31:e5 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: wlan0:  mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:21:6a:ca:9b:10 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
4: vboxnet0:  mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN qlen 1000
    link/ether 0a:00:27:00:00:00 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
5: pan0:  mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN 
    link/ether c2:10:fa:55:8e:32 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
6: vmnet1:  mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UNKNOWN qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:50:56:c0:00:01 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
7: vmnet8:  mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UNKNOWN qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:50:56:c0:00:08 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
11: ppp0:  mtu 1496 qdisc pfifo_fast state UNKNOWN qlen 3
    link/ppp

Where,

  1. lo – Loopback interface.
  2. eth0 – First Ethernet network interface.
  3. wlan0 – First Wireless network interface.
  4. ppp0 – First Point to Point Protocol network interface which can be used by dial up modem, PPTP vpn connection, or 3G wireless USB modem./li>
  5. vboxnet0, vmnet1, vmnet8 – Virtual machine interface working in bridge mode or NAT mode.

Show a Table Of All Network Interfaces Using netstat Command

Type the following command:
$ netstat -i
Sample outputs:

Kernel Interface table
Iface   MTU Met   RX-OK RX-ERR RX-DRP RX-OVR    TX-OK TX-ERR TX-DRP TX-OVR Flg
eth0       1500 0   2697347      0      0 0       2630262      0      0      0 BMRU
lo        16436 0      2840      0      0 0          2840      0      0      0 LRU
ppp0       1496 0    102800      0      0 0         63437      0      0      0 MOPRU
vmnet1     1500 0         0      0      0 0            49      0      0      0 BMRU
vmnet8     1500 0         0      0      0 0            49      0      0      0 BMRU

ifconfig Command Example

Type the following command:
$ /sbin/ifconfig -a
Sample outputs:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr b8:ac:6f:65:31:e5  
          inet addr:192.168.2.100  Bcast:192.168.2.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::baac:6fff:fe65:31e5/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:2697529 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:2630541 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:2159382827 (2.0 GiB)  TX bytes:1389552776 (1.2 GiB)
          Interrupt:17 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:2849 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:2849 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:2778290 (2.6 MiB)  TX bytes:2778290 (2.6 MiB)

ppp0      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol  
          inet addr:10.1.3.105  P-t-P:10.0.31.18  Mask:255.255.255.255
          UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:1496  Metric:1
          RX packets:102800 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:63437 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:3 
          RX bytes:148532544 (141.6 MiB)  TX bytes:4425518 (4.2 MiB)

vmnet1    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:50:56:c0:00:01  
          inet addr:192.168.47.1  Bcast:192.168.47.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::250:56ff:fec0:1/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:49 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

vmnet8    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:50:56:c0:00:08  
          inet addr:172.16.232.1  Bcast:172.16.232.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::250:56ff:fec0:8/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:49 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. He has worked with global clients and in various industries, including IT, education, defense and space research, and the nonprofit sector. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+.

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6 comment

  5. Hi , I just installed CentOS JustÄ— 7 minimal, and when I write the ” ip link show ” This cmd show me a single network interface ( lo ) , so my question is : how do I install other interfacess?
    thank you !!

  6. Thanks.
    None of the above turned out to be what I was looking for though.
    I wanted to see what other devices were on the same network as the computer I was typing the command into.
    The answer (in case others are looking for the same) was
    arp -a
    which output the IP addresses and MAC addresses of other devices.

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