Geek Posted February 28, 2012 Posted February 28, 2012 <div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/scan-wifi.gif" alt="Find and Scan Wi-Fi Networks in OS X Command Line" title="scan-wifi" width="620" height="334" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-27838" /></p> <p>A long <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2007/01/18/airport-the-little-known-command-line-wireless-utility/">hidden airport command line utility</a> buried deep in Mac OS X can be used to scan for and find available wireless networks</p> <p>To do this, the first thing you’ll want to do is create a symbolic link from the airport utility to /usr/sbin for easy access. Launch the Terminal and type the following command:</p> <p><code style="font-size:90%;overflow:scroll;">sudo ln -s /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport /usr/sbin/airport</code></p> <p>The above command must appear on a single line to work properly. Enter the administrator password to create the symbolic link, which functions as an alias would in the Finder. Now you can use the airport command without the lengthy path to access it.</p> <p>Now, to scan for and find all wireless networks within range, type the following:</p> <p><code>airport -s</code></p> <p>The list returned will show all available wifi networks and their router name (SSID), the router address (BSSID), signal strength (RSSI), channel, and security types used by the network.</p> <p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/list-wireless-networks.gif" alt="list wireless networks" title="list-wireless-networks" width="620" height="218" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-27839" /></p> <p>By watching the output of airport -s and the RSSI strength, you could use the airport command line tool in a similar fashion to the Wi-Fi Diagnostics utility to <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/12/28/check-wireless-signal-strength-optimize-wifi-networks-mac-os-x/">optimize a wireless connection</a>.</p> <p>You can also get much of the same detailed information <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/06/15/get-detailed-wifi-info-from-the-menu-bar/">from the Wi-Fi menu by holding the Option key</a> on click, although that will only show you details of one access point at a time.</p> </div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/CsBfFVUpnkQuRA6-mJcS3kx3Xro/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/CsBfFVUpnkQuRA6-mJcS3kx3Xro/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/CsBfFVUpnkQuRA6-mJcS3kx3Xro/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/CsBfFVUpnkQuRA6-mJcS3kx3Xro/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=R3vr5uvUgBE:QY3SQg4cDtU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=R3vr5uvUgBE:QY3SQg4cDtU:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?i=R3vr5uvUgBE:QY3SQg4cDtU:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=R3vr5uvUgBE:QY3SQg4cDtU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?i=R3vr5uvUgBE:QY3SQg4cDtU:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=R3vr5uvUgBE:QY3SQg4cDtU:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=R3vr5uvUgBE:QY3SQg4cDtU:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/osxdaily/~4/R3vr5uvUgBE" height="1" width="1"/> View the full article
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