nmcli-radio

Show status of Wi-Fi

$ nmcli [[r|radio]] [[w|wifi]]

$ nmcli [[r|radio]] [[w|wifi]] [on|off]

$ nmcli [[r|radio]] [[ww|wwan]]

$ nmcli [[r|radio]] [[ww|wwan]] [on|off]

$ nmcli [[r|radio]]

$ nmcli [[r|radio]] [[a|all]] [on|off]

nmcli radio
nmcli radio { all | wifi | wwan | bluetooth } { on | off }

all
    Applies the operation to all available wireless radios: Wi-Fi, WWAN, and Bluetooth.

wifi
    Specifically targets and controls the Wi-Fi radio.

wwan
    Specifically targets and controls the WWAN (mobile broadband) radio.

bluetooth
    Specifically targets and controls the Bluetooth radio.

on
    Enables the specified radio(s).

off
    Disables the specified radio(s).

nmcli radio is a specific subcommand of the nmcli (NetworkManager Command Line Interface) tool. It provides a simple yet powerful way to manage the global enabled/disabled state of various wireless radio technologies present on a system. This includes Wi-Fi, WWAN (Wireless Wide Area Network, commonly referred to as mobile broadband), and Bluetooth. Users can query the current status of these radios, or toggle their state (on/off) either individually or all at once. This functionality is essential for power management, quickly enabling or disabling wireless connectivity, or complying with airline mode requirements. It acts on the hardware's global state, not on individual network connections.

Requires the NetworkManager service to be running for nmcli to function correctly.
Changes made with nmcli radio typically require root privileges or membership in a group with NetworkManager administrative permissions (e.g., network group) to take effect.
The availability and functionality of wwan and bluetooth controls depend on the presence of corresponding hardware and drivers on the system.
Disabling a radio globally with nmcli radio off will prevent any network connections using that technology from operating, regardless of their individual connection status.

When invoked without any arguments (i.e., nmcli radio), the command displays the current status of all known wireless radios. The output typically shows each radio (WIFI, WWAN, BLUETOOTH) and its current state (enabled or disabled).

Changes made with nmcli radio are generally persistent across reboots, as NetworkManager remembers the last state of the radios. However, specific hardware or system configurations might override this behavior.

nmcli is the command-line interface for NetworkManager, a dynamic network configuration and management daemon widely adopted in Linux distributions. NetworkManager itself was initiated by Red Hat in 2004 with the goal of simplifying network setup, particularly for mobile users. The nmcli tool, including subcommands like radio, has evolved over time to provide comprehensive control over NetworkManager's functionalities from the terminal, becoming an indispensable tool for both desktop users and system administrators managing network interfaces programmatically or via scripts.

nmcli(1), nmcli-device(1), nmcli-connection(1), rfkill(8)