iw-phy

Show and configure wireless PHY (physical device) settings

TLDR

List capabilities of all wireless devices

$ iw phy

Show detailed info for a specific PHY

$ iw phy [phy0] info

Set the channel on a PHY

$ iw phy [phy0] set channel [6]

Set a fixed transmit power (in mBm)

$ iw phy [phy0] set txpower fixed [1500]

Add a virtual interface of a given type

$ iw phy [phy0] interface add [mon0] type [monitor]

Rename a wireless PHY

$ iw phy [phy0] set name [newname]

iw phy operates on a wireless PHY, the physical radio device that one or more network interfaces are built on. With no arguments it lists every wiphy and its capabilities: supported bands and channels, bitrates, ciphers, antenna configuration, and which interface modes and features the hardware allows.Targeting a named PHY (for example phy0) lets you query it with info or change radio-wide settings such as the operating channel, transmit power, retry limits, and antenna mask. The interface add form creates additional virtual interfaces (managed, monitor, AP, mesh, and so on) on top of the same radio.

PARAMETERS

info

Print the full capability listing for the PHY.

set channel N [HT/VHT]

Set the operating channel, optionally with a width specifier.

set freq FREQ

Set the operating frequency directly.

set txpower auto|fixed|limit [mBm]

Control transmit power, fixed or capped at the given level.

set name NAME

Rename the wireless PHY.

set antenna TX RX

Configure the TX and RX antenna bitmasks.

interface add NAME type TYPE

Create a new virtual interface of TYPE on this PHY.

INSTALL

sudo apt install iw

sudo dnf install iw

sudo pacman -S iw

sudo apk add iw

sudo zypper install iw

nix profile install nixpkgs#iw

CAVEATS

Most set operations require root privileges, and some can only be applied while the interface is down or unused. The exact set of supported channels, powers, and interface types depends on the driver and the active regulatory domain.

RESOURCES

Source code · Documentation