iwlist – Get detailed information from a wireless interface

Iwlist is used to display some additional information from a wireless network interface that is not displayed by iwconfig. The main argument is used to select a category of information, iwlist displays in detailed form all information related to this category, including information already shown by iwconfig

Make sure your machine’s WiFi is turned on and then check what is the wireless / wifi interface name used by your Linux machine using ifconfig as,

$ ifconfig -a

In our Ubuntu Linux laptop, wifi interface name as displayed in ifconfig is “wlp3s0” . For you it may be “wlan0” or any other replace with following commands as required.

“iwlist “interface” scanning” – Give the list of Access Points and Ad-Hoc cells in range

$ iwlist wlp3s0 scanning
wlp3s0    Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 64:70:02:E1:2C:16
                    Channel:13
                    Frequency:2.472 GHz (Channel 13)
                    Quality=70/70  Signal level=-40 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"virus4all"
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
                              9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Mode:Master
                    Extra:tsf=0000000aea4356e6
                    Extra: Last beacon: 3753032ms ago
                    IE: Unknown: 0009766972757334616C6C
                    IE: Unknown: 010882848B960C121824
                    IE: Unknown: 03010D
                    IE: Unknown: 0706494E20010D14
                    IE: Unknown: 2A0100
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : CCMP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: Unknown: 32043048606C
                    IE: Unknown: 2D1A6E1103FF00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 331A6E1103FF00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 3D160D0F0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 34160D0F0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : CCMP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101820003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00
                    IE: Unknown: DD0900037F01010000FF7F
                    IE: Unknown: DD990050F204104A0001101044000102103B0001031047001000000000000010000000647002E12C101021000754502D4C494E4B10230009544C2D57523734304E10240003342E3010420003312E301054000800060050F204000110110019576972656C65737320526F7574657220544C2D57523734304E100800020086103C000101104900140024E26002000101600000020001600100020001

iwlist “interface” frequency – Get the list of available frequencies in the device and the number of defined channels.

$ iwlist wlp3s0 frequency
wlp3s0    27 channels in total; available frequencies :
          Channel 01 : 2.412 GHz
          Channel 02 : 2.417 GHz
          Channel 03 : 2.422 GHz
          Channel 04 : 2.427 GHz
          Channel 05 : 2.432 GHz
          Channel 06 : 2.437 GHz
          Channel 07 : 2.442 GHz
          Channel 08 : 2.447 GHz
          Channel 09 : 2.452 GHz
          Channel 10 : 2.457 GHz
          Channel 11 : 2.462 GHz
          Channel 12 : 2.467 GHz
          Channel 13 : 2.472 GHz
          Channel 36 : 5.18 GHz
          Channel 40 : 5.2 GHz
          Channel 44 : 5.22 GHz
          Channel 48 : 5.24 GHz
          Channel 52 : 5.26 GHz
          Channel 56 : 5.28 GHz
          Channel 60 : 5.3 GHz
          Channel 64 : 5.32 GHz
          Channel 149 : 5.745 GHz
          Channel 153 : 5.765 GHz
          Channel 157 : 5.785 GHz
          Channel 161 : 5.805 GHz
          Channel 165 : 5.825 GHz
          Channel 169 : 5.845 GHz
          Current Frequency:2.472 GHz (Channel 13)

iwlist “interface” rate – List the bit-rates supported by the device.

$ iwlist wlp3s0 rate
wlp3s0    unknown bit-rate information.
          Current Bit Rate=1 Mb/s

wlist “inteface” keys – List the encryption key sizes supported and list all the encryption keys set in the device.

$ sudo iwlist wlp3s0 keys
wlp3s0    2 key sizes : 40, 104bits
          4 keys available :
		[1]: off
		[2]: off
		[3]: off
		[4]: off
          Current Transmit Key: [1]

Reference – Type “man iwlist” on Ubuntu or any Linux shell