List Available Wifi Networks and Signal Strength

Last modified: 
Thursday, April 30th, 2015

List the SSID, channel, and signal strength of available wifi hotspots in the Linux

iw dev wlan0 scan | grep 'SSID\|dB\|channel

Outputs something like

    signal: -32.00 dBm
    SSID: coffeeshop
    DS Parameter set: channel 2
         * primary channel: 2
         * secondary channel offset: no secondary
         * STA channel width: 20 MHz
    signal: -52.00 dBm
    SSID: 
    DS Parameter set: channel 1
    Power constraint: 0 dB
         * primary channel: 1
         * secondary channel offset: no secondary
         * STA channel width: 20 MHz
        Channels [1 - 11] @ 27 dBm
    signal: 4.00 dBm
    SSID: \x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00
    DS Parameter set: channel 1
         * primary channel: 1
         * secondary channel offset: no secondary
         * STA channel width: 20 MHz
    signal: -32.00 dBm
    SSID: someguyslaptop
    DS Parameter set: channel 1
         * primary channel: 1
         * secondary channel offset: no secondary
         * STA channel width: 20 MHz
    signal: -32.00 dBm
    SSID: bookshop
    DS Parameter set: channel 1
        Channels [1 - 11] @ 36 dBm
         * primary channel: 1
         * secondary channel offset: no secondary
         * STA channel width: 20 MHz

References

  1. About iw
  2. Linux Mint Wifi keeps disconnecting at random times and asks for wifi password


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