ip

Additional Notes

ip is a network command used to show and manage network interfaces, addresses, routes, and neighbors. Use it when checking connectivity, network configuration, remote access, or network services.

It has subcommands for links, addresses, routes, neighbors, rules, tunnels, and network namespaces.

Syntax

ip [options] OBJECT COMMAND

Parameters

• options: Flags that change how ip behaves.
• OBJECT: The ip object type such as addr, link, route, neigh, rule, or netns.
• COMMAND: Operation to perform on the object.

Common Objects

• addr: IP addresses.
• link: Network interfaces.
• route: Routing table.
• neigh: Neighbor/ARP table.
• rule: Routing policy rules.
• netns: Network namespaces.

Common Options

• -br: Brief output.
• -c: Color output when supported.
• -s: Show statistics.
• -d: Show detailed information.
• -4: Show IPv4 information.
• -6: Show IPv6 information.

Examples

ip addr

Show network interfaces and addresses.

ip -br addr

Show a compact address summary.

ip link

Show interface link state.

sudo ip link set wlan0 up

Bring an interface up.

ip route

Show the routing table.

ip route get 8.8.8.8

Show which route would be used to reach an address.

ip neigh

Show neighbor table entries.

sudo ip addr add 192.168.1.50/24 dev eth0

Add an IP address to an interface.

Practical Notes

• Use ip -br addr for a quick interface overview.
• Changing network state usually requires sudo.
• NetworkManager or systemd-networkd may overwrite manual changes.
• Use ping, ss, traceroute, and resolvectl with ip during troubleshooting.
• Be careful changing routes on a remote SSH session; you can disconnect yourself.