NMCLI(1)NMCLI(1)NAMEnmcli - command‐line tool for controlling NetworkManager
SYNOPSISnmcli [ OPTIONS ] OBJECT { COMMAND | help }
OBJECT := { nm | con | dev }
OPTIONS := {
-t[erse]
-p[retty]
-m[mode] tabular | multiline
-f[ields] <field1,field2,...> | all | common
-e[scape] yes | no
-v[ersion]
-h[elp]
}
DESCRIPTIONnmcli is a command‐line tool for controlling NetworkManager and report‐
ing on its status. It is not meant as a full replacement for nm‐applet
or other similar clients but as a complementary utility to those pro‐
grams. The main usage for nmcli is on servers, headless machines or
for power users who prefer the command line.
Typical applications include:
— Initscripts: ifup/ifdown can utilize NetworkManager via nmcli
instead of having to manage connections itself and possibly inter‐
fere with NetworkManager.
— Servers, headless machines: No GUI is available; then nmcli can be
used to activate/deactivate connections. However, if a connection
requires a secret in order to activate and if that secret is not
stored at the system level, nmcli will not be able to activate it;
it is currently unable to supply the secrets to NetworkManager.
— User sessions: nmcli can be used to activate/deactivate connections
from the command line, but a client with a secret agent (like nm‐
applet) is needed for supplying secrets not stored at the system
level. Keyring dialogs and password prompts may appear if this hap‐
pens.
OPTIONS
-t, --terse
Output is terse. This mode is designed and suitable for com‐
puter (script) processing.
-p, --pretty
Output is pretty. This causes nmcli to produce easily readable
outputs for humans, i.e. values are aligned, headers are
printed, etc.
-m, --mode tabular | multiline
Switch between tabular and multiline output. If omitted,
default is tabular for most commands. For the commands producing
more structured information, that cannot be displayed on a sin‐
gle line, default is multiline. Currenly, they are:
'nmcli con list id|uuid <name>'
'nmcli dev list'
tabular – Output is a table where each line describes a single
entry. Columns define particular properties of the entry.
multiline – Each entry comprises multiple lines, each property
on its own line. The values are prefixed with the property name.
-f, --fields <field1,field2,...> | all | common
This option is used to specify what fields (column names) should
be printed. Valid field names differ for specific commands.
List available fields by providing an invalid value to the
--fields option.
all is used to print all valid field values of the command.
common is used to print common field values of the command. If
omitted, default is common. The option is mandatory when
--terse is used. In this case, generic values all and common
cannot be used. (This is to maintain compatibility when new
fields are added in the future).
-e, --escape yes | no
Whether to escape ':' and '\' characters in terse tabular mode.
The escape character is '\'. If omitted, default is yes.
-v, --version
Show nmcli version.
-h, --help
Print help information.
OBJECT
nm NetworkManager
Use this object to inquire and change state of NetworkManager.
COMMAND := { status | permissions | enable | sleep | wifi | wwan |
wimax }
status
Show overall status of NetworkManager. This is the
default action, when no command is provided to nm object.
Reference to D‐Bus:
No simple reference.
permissions
Show the permissions a caller has for various authenti‐
cated operations that NetworkManager provides, like
enable/disable networking, changing Wi‐Fi, WWAN, and
WiMAX state, modifying connections, etc.
Reference to D‐Bus:
interface: org.freedesktop.NetworkManager
method: GetPermissions
arguments: none
enable [true|false]
Get networking‐enabled status or enable/disable network‐
ing by NetworkManager. All interfaces managed by Net‐
workManager are deactivated when networking has been dis‐
abled.
Reference to D‐Bus:
interface: org.freedesktop.NetworkManager
method: Enable
arguments: TRUE or FALSE
sleep [true|false]
Get sleep status or put to sleep/awake NetworkManager.
All interfaces managed by NetworkManager are deactivated
when it falls asleep. This command is not meant for user
to enable/disable networking, use enable for that. D‐Bus
Sleep method is designed to put NetworkManager to sleep
or awake for suspending/resuming the computer.
Reference to D‐Bus:
interface: org.freedesktop.NetworkManager
method: Sleep
arguments: TRUE or FALSE
wifi [on|off]
Inquire or set status of Wi‐Fi in NetworkManager. If no
arguments are supplied, Wi‐Fi status is printed; on
enables Wi‐Fi; off disables Wi‐Fi.
Reference to D‐Bus:
No simple reference.
wwan [on|off]
Inquire or set status of WWAN in NetworkManager. If no
arguments are supplied, WWAN status is printed; on
enables WWAN; off disables WWAN.
Reference to D‐Bus:
No simple reference.
wimax [on|off]
Inquire or set status of WiMAX in NetworkManager. If no
arguments are supplied, WiMAX status is printed; on
enables WiMAX; off disables WiMAX.
Note: WiMAX support is a compile‐time decision, so it may
be unavailable on some installations.
Reference to D‐Bus:
No simple reference.
con Connections
Get information about NetworkManager's connections.
COMMAND := { list | status | up | down | delete }
list [id <id> | uuid <id>]
List configured connections. Without a parameter, all
connections are listed. In order to get connection
details, id with connection's name or uuid with connec‐
tion's UUID shall be specified. When no command is given
to the con object, the default action is 'nmcli con
list'.
Reference to D‐Bus:
No simple reference.
status
Print status of active connections.
Reference to D‐Bus:
No simple reference.
up id <id> | uuid <id> [iface <iface>] [ap <BSSID>] [nsp <name>]
[--nowait] [--timeout <timeout>]
Activate a connection. The connection is identified by
its name using id or UUID using uuid. When requiring a
particular device to activate the connection on, the
iface option with interface name should be given. In case
of a VPN connection, the iface option specify the device
of the base connection. The ap option specify what par‐
ticular AP should be used in case of a Wi‐Fi connection.
Available options are:
iface – interface that will be used for activation
ap – BSSID of the AP which the command should
connect to (for Wi‐Fi connections)
nsp – NSP (Network Service Provider) which the
command should connect to (for WiMAX connec‐
tions)
--nowait – exit immediately without waiting for com‐
mand completion
--timeout – how long to wait for command completion
(default is 90 s)
Reference to D‐Bus:
interface: org.freedesktop.NetworkManager
method: ActivateConnection
arguments: according to arguments
down id <id> | uuid <id>
Deactivate a connection. The connection is identified by
its name using id or UUID using uuid.
Reference to D‐Bus:
interface: org.freedesktop.NetworkManager
method: DeactivateConnection
arguments: according to arguments
delete id <id> | uuid <id>
Delete a configured connection. The connection to delete
is specified with id (connection name) or uuid (connec‐
tion UUID).
Reference to D‐Bus:
interface: org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.Settings.Connection
method: Delete
arguments: none
dev Devices
Get information about devices.
COMMAND := { status | list | disconnect | wifi }
status
Print status of devices. This is the default action,
when no command is specified to dev object.
Reference to D‐Bus:
No simple reference.
list [iface <iface>]
Get detailed information about devices. Without an argu‐
ment, all devices are examined. To get information for a
specific device, the iface argument with the interface
name should be provided.
Reference to D‐Bus:
No simple reference.
disconnect iface <iface> [--nowait] [--timeout <timeout>]
Disconnect a device and prevent the device from automati‐
cally activating further connections without user/manual
intervention.
Available options are:
--nowait – exit immediately without waiting for com‐
mand completion
--timeout – how long to wait for command completion
(default is 10 s)
Reference to D‐Bus:
interface: org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.Device
method: Disconnect
arguments: none
wifi [list [iface <iface>] [bssid <BSSID>]]
List available Wi‐Fi access points. The iface and bssid
options can be used to list APs for a particular inter‐
face or with a specific BSSID, respectively.
Reference to D‐Bus:
No simple reference.
wifi connect <(B)SSID> [password <password>] [wep-key-type
key|phrase] [iface <iface>] [bssid <BSSID>] [name <name>]
[--private] [--nowait] [--timeout <timeout>]
Connect to a Wi‐Fi network specified by SSID or BSSID.
The command creates a new connection and then activates
it on a device. This is a command‐line counterpart of
clicking an SSID in a GUI client. The command always cre‐
ates a new connection and thus it is mainly useful for
connecting to new Wi‐Fi networks. If a connection for the
network already exists, it's better to connect through it
using nmcli con up id <name>. Note that only open, WEP
and WPA‐PSK networks are supported at the moment. It is
also supposed that IP configuration is obtained via DHCP.
Available options are:
password – password for secured networks (WEP or WPA)
wep-key-type – type of WEP secret, either key for
ASCII/HEX key or phrase for passphrase
iface – interface that will be used for activation
bssid – if specified, the created connection will
be restricted just for the BSSID
name – if specified, the connection will use the
name (else NM creates a name itself)
--private – the connection will only be visible to the
user who created it (else the connection is
system‐wide)
--nowait – exit immediately without waiting for com‐
mand completion
--timeout – how long to wait for command completion
(default is 90 s)
Reference to D‐Bus:
interface: org.freedesktop.NetworkManager
method: AddAndActivateConnection
arguments: according to arguments
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
nmcli's behavior is affected by the following environment variables.
LC_ALL If set to a non‐empty string value, it overrides the val‐
ues of all the other internationalization variables.
LC_MESSAGES Determines the locale to be used for internationalized
messages.
LANG Provides a default value for the internationalization
variables that are unset or null.
Internationalization notes:
Be aware that nmcli is localized and that's why the output depends on
your environment. This is important to realize especially when you
parse the output.
Call nmcli as LC_ALL=C nmcli to be sure the locale is set to "C" while
executing in a script.
LC_ALL, LC_MESSAGES, LANG variables specify the LC_MESSAGES locale cat‐
egory (in that order), which determines the language that nmcli uses
for messages. The "C" locale is used if none of these variables are
set, and this locale uses English messages.
EXIT STATUSnmcli exits with status 0 if it succeeds, a value greater than 0 is
returned if an error occurs.
0 Success – indicates the operation succeeded
1 Unknown or unspecified error
2 Invalid user input, wrong nmcli invocation
3 Timeout expired (see commands with --timeout option)
4 Connection activation failed
5 Connection deactivation failed
6 Disconnecting device failed
7 Connection deletion failed
8 NetworkManager is not running
9 nmcli and NetworkManager versions mismatch
EXAMPLESnmcli-t -f RUNNING nm
tells you whether NetworkManager is running or not.
nmcli-t -f STATE nm
shows the overall status of NetworkManager.
nmcli nm wifi off
switches Wi‐Fi off.
nmcli-p con list
lists all connections NetworkManager has.
nmcli-f name,autoconnect con list
lists all connections' names and their autoconnect settings.
nmcli con list id "My wired connection"
lists all details of the connection with "My wired connection"
name.
nmcli-p con up id "My wired connection" iface eth0
activates the connection with name "My wired connection" on
interface eth0. The -p option makes nmcli show progress of the
activation.
nmcli con up uuid 6b028a27-6dc9-4411-9886-e9ad1dd43761 ap
00:3A:98:7C:42:D3
connects the Wi‐Fi connection with UUID
6b028a27-6dc9-4411-9886-e9ad1dd43761 to the AP with BSSID
00:3A:98:7C:42:D3.
nmcli dev status
shows the status for all devices.
nmcli dev disconnect iface em2
disconnects a connection on interface em2 and marks the device
as unavailable for auto‐connecting. That's why no connection
will automatically be activated on the device until the device's
"autoconnect" is set to TRUE or user manually activates a con‐
nection.
nmcli-f GENERAL,WIFI-PROPERTIES dev list iface wlan0
lists details for wlan0 interface; only GENERAL and WIFI-PROPER‐
TIES sections will be shown.
nmcli dev wifi
lists available Wi‐Fi access points known to NetworkManager.
nmcli dev wifi con "Cafe Hotspot 1" password caffeine name "My cafe"
creates a new connection named "My cafe" and then connects it to
"Cafe Hotspot 1" SSID using "caffeine" password. This is mainly
useful when connecting to "Cafe Hotspot 1" for the first time.
Next time, it is better to use 'nmcli con up id "My cafe"' so
that the existing connection profile can be used and no addi‐
tional is created.
BUGS
There are probably some bugs. If you find a bug, please report it to
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/ — product NetworkManager.
SEE ALSOnm-tool(1), nm-online(1), NetworkManager(8), nm-settings(5),
nm...pplet(1), nm-connection-editor(1).
17 January 2013 NMCLI(1)
