Determining your IP address under under a generic UNIX

This page details how to determine your IP address under a generic version of UNIX (Linux, IRIX, Solaris, etc.)

Finding your IP address in Linux

You must know your computer's IP address if you wish to connect to it from another machine, or to enable other services. There are different methods for finding this address information, which depend upon your device and operating system.

Obtain a command shell. This will vary greatly by implementation. If you are using a graphical environment such as KDE or GNOME, then look in the dock, taskbar, or program menus for Xterm, Shell, Terminal, Command Prompt, or similar. If your computer leaves you with a text screen after starting up, you probably already have a command shell.

Type /sbin/ifconfig at the shell prompt, then press Enter or Return. In the example below, the shell prompt is [reynolda@VirtualWhitebox reynolda] $ and the command to type is highlighted in green.

(Note: If you see an error message to the effect of "permission denied," then instead enter su -c /sbin/ifconfig at the shell prompt, and enter the password for the "root" user if asked for it.)

You should see a network adapter listing that is similar to the example above, with adapter device names (eth0, etc.) in the leftmost column.

Most Linux distributions call the first Ethernet network adapter — usually the wired Ethernet adapter — eth0, and subsequent (potentially wireless) adapters eth1, eth2, etc. (The loopback adapter, lo, can be ignored because it is not a physical network device.)

You will find the IP address listed after inet addr. In this example, the IP address is192.168.131.65. Your address will be something different, most likely starting with "130.91". You will have at least two entries if you have wired and wireless networking in your computer.

Type exit and press Enter or Return if you wish to end the command shell session.

Finding the hardware address for IRIX

In the above instructions, open an IRIX terminal session and use netstat -ia instead of /sbin/ifconfig. The IP address will be listed in the resulting table.

Finding the hardware address for Solaris

In the above instructions, open a Solaris terminal session and use ifconfig -a instead of /sbin/ifconfig. The hardware address will be listed in the resulting table.