How to List Network Devices on Linux

To list network devices on Linux, the fastest way is ip a (shows every interface with its addresses and link state) or nmcli dev status (shows NetworkManager-managed connection state). Both work on AlmaLinux, Rocky, RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch — anywhere with a modern kernel and iproute2 installed.

Contents

TL;DR
Using ip
Using nmcli
Just the names
Frequently asked questions
Related guides
References

Last verified: 2026-05-17 on AlmaLinux 9, Ubuntu 22.04, and Fedora 40. Originally published 2022-08-29, rewritten and updated 2026-05-17.

TL;DR

# Every interface, addresses, link state
ip a

# Compact one-line-per-interface view
ip -br link

# NetworkManager view (only on systems with NM installed)
nmcli dev status

# Default-route interface
ip route show default

Using ip

ip a (short for ip address show) is the modern, official command — part of the iproute2 package that every Linux distro ships in the default install:

ip a

Sample output:

1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 ...
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
2: enp3s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 ...
    link/ether 52:54:00:12:34:56 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.1.42/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global enp3s0

For a more compact view, pass -br (brief):

ip -br link

# lo               UNKNOWN        00:00:00:00:00:00
# enp3s0           UP             52:54:00:12:34:56
# wlp2s0           DOWN           a0:88:b4:11:22:33

List network devices on Linux — ip a, ip -br link, nmcli dev status side by side

Using nmcli

On any system with NetworkManager installed (most desktops, many servers), nmcli dev status gives a higher-level view:

nmcli dev status

# DEVICE   TYPE      STATE        CONNECTION
# enp3s0   ethernet  connected    Wired connection 1
# wlp2s0   wifi      disconnected --
# lo       loopback  unmanaged    --

The advantage over ip a: nmcli knows which connection profile is active, which Wi-Fi network you’re on, and whether NetworkManager is managing the device at all. If you get Error: NetworkManager is not running, your system doesn’t have NetworkManager — that’s fine, just use ip.

Just the names

If a script just needs the list of interface names, the kernel exposes them as directories under /sys/class/net/:

ls /sys/class/net/

# enp3s0  lo  wlp2s0

This is the cleanest, dependency-free way to enumerate interfaces — useful inside containers, minimal Alpine images, or anywhere ip might not be installed.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between ip a and ifconfig?

ip a is part of the iproute2 suite and is the official replacement for the deprecated net-tools commands (ifconfig, route, arp). It shows the same information plus IPv6, multiple addresses per interface, and link-state details. Most distros stopped installing ifconfig by default years ago. Always use ip on modern systems.

What does nmcli dev status show that ip a doesn’t?

nmcli queries NetworkManager, so its output reflects the connection profile (Wi-Fi network names, VPN status, bond/bridge members, whether a device is managed by NetworkManager at all). ip a just shows the kernel-level interface state. On servers without NetworkManager you’ll get an error from nmcli — that’s not a bug, just a sign NetworkManager isn’t installed.

How do I see only physical (not virtual) interfaces?

Filter on the link/ether line. ip -br link gives a compact one-line-per-interface view; pipe to grep -v ' DOWN\|lo' to drop loopback and inactive ones. Or use ls /sys/class/net/ to see every kernel-recognized interface as a directory.

Why does my interface have a weird name like enp0s3 instead of eth0?

That’s predictable network interface names, introduced with systemd. The prefix en = ethernet, p0 = PCI bus 0, s3 = slot 3. The names stay stable across reboots and kernel upgrades, which the old eth0/eth1 scheme didn’t guarantee. To revert to the old naming, add net.ifnames=0 to your kernel command line, but stable names are the better default.

How do I find which interface is the default route?

ip route show default prints the default gateway and the device used to reach it: default via 192.168.1.1 dev enp3s0. That’s the interface your internet traffic leaves through.