Currently all the solution mentioned for getting the MAC address always use eth0.
But what if instead of eth0 my interfaces start with eth1. Also on OS X the interface names are different.
Also the interface eth0 may be present but is unused. i.e. not active, it doesn’t have an IP.
So is there a way I could get the MAC address for the first available interface that is Active.(i.e. it has an inet address, I even don’t want one having inet6).
For E.g
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr <some addr> inet6 addr: <some addr> Scope:Link UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:123 RX packets:123 errors:123 dropped:123 overruns:123 frame:123 TX packets:123 errors:123 dropped:123 overruns:123 carrier:123 collisions:123 txqueuelen:123 RX bytes:123 (123 MB) TX bytes:123 (123 KB) Interrupt:123 Memory:00000000-00000000 eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr <some addr> inet addr:<some addr> Bcast:<some addr> Mask:<some addr> inet6 addr: <some addr> Scope:Link UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:123 Metric:123 RX packets:123 errors:123 dropped:123 overruns:123 frame:123 TX packets:123 errors:123 dropped:123 overruns:123 carrier:123 collisions:123 txqueuelen:123 RX bytes:123 (123 MB) TX bytes:123 (123 KB) Interrupt:123 Memory:00000000-00000000
NOTE : I have changed the values of the output.
So in this case I want the HWaddr for eth1 and not eth0. How do I find it ? Also it should work on all the Linux flavours.
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Answer
Observe that the interface name and the MAC address are the first and last fields on a line with no leading whitespace.
If one of the indented lines contains inet addr:
the latest interface name and MAC address should be printed.
ifconfig -a | awk '/^[a-z]/ { iface=$1; mac=$NF; next } /inet addr:/ { print iface, mac }'
Note that multiple interfaces could meet your criteria. Then, the script will print multiple lines. (You can add ; exit
just before the final closing brace if you always only want to print the first match.)