How to Check the IP Address in Linux: Command Line & GUI

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Easy steps to find your public or private IP address in seconds

Written by Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: March 10, 2026 Fact Checked

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Public IP Address Commands

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Private IP Address Commands

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GUI Options

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Video

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Q&A

You can view your IP address in Linux using simple terminal commands or in the GUI. The steps will vary a bit depending on whether you want to find your public IP address (the one that identifies you on the internet) or your public IP address (the one that identifies you on a local network). This wikiHow guide will teach you multiple ways to check your IP address in any version of Linux, including Ubuntu, Arch Linux, Kali Linux, and any other distro.

Quick Commands to Check Your IP Address in Linux

Your public IP address identifies you on the internet, while your private IP address is only visible on your local network.
To see your public IP address, use the command curl ifconfig.me or wget -qO- ifconfig.me | grep ip_addr.
To see your private IP address, use the command ip addr, hostname -i, or ifconfig.

Section 1 of 3:

Commands to Show Your Public IP Address

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curl ifconfig.me This command gets your public IP address from the remote website ifconfig.me and prints it on the screen.^{[1]
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- The public IP address is what websites and services see when you access them over the internet. If you want to try to connect to your computer via a remote connection that isn't on the same network, you'll need the public IP address.
- If the website (ifconfig.me) isn't responding, try these commands instead:
  - curl icanhazip.com
  - curl checkip.amazonaws.com
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wget -qO- ifconfig.me | grep ip_addr If you can't use the curl command, you can use wget to get your IP address from the same website. You'll find your IP address next to "ip_addr" in the output.
- If the website isn't working, try these commands instead:
  - wget -qO- icanhazip.com
  - wget -qO- checkip.amazonaws.com

Section 2 of 3:

Commands to Show Your Private IP Address

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ip addr If you're trying to find the IP address of your computer within your local network–for example, if you're setting up port forwarding on a router or need to allow your computer through a firewall–you'll need to know your computer's private IP address. Running the command ip addr in a Terminal window displays your private IP address for all active interfaces (e.g., Wi-Fi, Ethernet).^{[2]
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- For example, if you want to find the IP address of your Ethernet connection, look for the IP address next to "inet" for "eth0."
- This command will display both IPv4 and IPv6 IP addresses, as well as MAC addresses.
- You can also use the command ip a as a shortcut.
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hostname -i This command also displays your private IP address, but with no other information.^{[3]
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- You can also run the command hostname (without the -i option) to display just the hostname of your Linux computer.
ifconfig While this command is deprecated on many versions of Linux, you can use ifconfig to display your private IP address if you have the net-tools package installed.
nmcli device show If your Linux distribution has the network-manager package installed, you can run this command to display your private IP address, default gateway, MAC address, and other details.

Section 3 of 3:

GUI Ways to Show Your IP Address

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Public IP You can find your public IP address in your preferred web browser in any Linux GUI. To do so, just visit any of these websites:
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Private IP The steps to check your private IP in your Linux desktop environment vary by interface, but they're all simple:
- If you're using the GNOME or KDE desktop environment, open your Settings, click Network in the sidebar, and click the gear icon next to the connection to find your IP address.^{[4]
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- If you're using Cinnamon, click the network icon in the system tray and select the network interface to display your IP address.^{[5]
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- In XFCE, right-click the network icon in the system tray and select Connection information to display your private IP address.^{[6]
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Community Q&A

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Question

What is an IP address?

Pingu

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It is a label that consists of four numbers separated by dots. Every computer with an internet connection is assigned an IP address. It is used so that computers can connect to each other. If you write the name of a web page into your browser's address bar, it actually looks up what IP that name refers to and then connects with that IP.

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Question

How can I find someone else's IP address using my own device?

Pingu

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If the device the IP of which you're trying to find has a domain name, you can use the "nslookup" function. So for example, "nslookup google.com" would give you the IP address of one of Google's servers. If it doesn't, and the device connected to your device at some time, one of the many logs (located at /var/log) can contain its IP address. Other than that, there is no way to find someone else's IP address from your device, but you can use theirs.

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What would I enter at the command prompt (terminal) on a Linux system to display a list of files and sub directories that exist within the present working directory?

Somone

Community Answer

You can type "ls" (without quotes) to list the files and directories in the present working directory and "ls -a" to list everything, including all hidden files.

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