ifquery(8)

💖 ifquery(8) — the "bestie, what is my network even doing" tool 💖

okay so real talk: this is ifquery, from the System Manager's Manual (section 8, system admin girlies only 💅). If you've ever stared at your interface config like "who are you and what do you want", this is the page for you.

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✨ NAME ✨

ifquery — query interface configuration and state 🦋

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

ifquery [<options>...] <interfaces...>

ifquery -L|--list

ifquery -s|--state

like, you can either pass it some interfaces with options, or just hit it with -L|--list, or do the state-database thing with -s|--state. three whole moods ✨

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

So ifquery pulls info out of the interface configuration file. That's the whole vibe. 🎀

It can also convert from old versions of the interface configuration file into the current format. glow-up service, lowkey 🦋

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

• -a, --auto — only match interfaces that are marked as auto. picky on purpose, we love that
• -h, --help — shows you all the supported options for ifquery. the friendly one 🫶
• -i, --interfaces FILE — use FILE as the config database. swap the whole source of truth, no biggie
• -p, --property PROPERTY — print the values of matching properties for an interface. your fave attribute, served fresh 🌸
• -r, --running — print the interface names that are marked as running in the state database. who's actually up rn 👀
• -s, --state — query the state database instead of the config database. different database, different energy 💜
• -D, --dot — generate a dependency graph you can feed to GraphViz dot(1). used with --list. it's giving ✨flowchart✨
• -I, --include PATTERN — include PATTERN when matching against the config or state database. yes bestie, come in
• -L, --list — list interfaces which exist in the configuration database. roster drop 📋
• -P, --pretty-print — when listing interfaces, print their config in a format compatible with interfaces(5) files. pretty and functional, iconic
• -U, --allow-undefined — create virtual interfaces for any interfaces not explicitly defined in the configuration file. primarily useful for property queries. manifesting an interface that doesn't exist yet 💫
• -S, --state-file FILE — use FILE as the state database
• -T, --timeout TIMEOUT — wait up to TIMEOUT seconds for executors to complete before raising an error. patience, but make it measurable ⏳
• -V, --version — print the ifupdown-ng version and exit. identity check 🪪
• -X, --exclude PATTERN — exclude PATTERN when matching against the config or state database. respectfully, not you 🙈

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✨ SEE ALSO ✨

• ifup(8)
• ifdown(8)
• interfaces(5)

the whole friend group, fr fr 🫶

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✨ AUTHORS ✨

Ariadne Conill <ariadne@dereferenced.org> — thank you for your service, queen 👑

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and that's the page bestie 💖 this one is dated 2025-10-13 and it lives in the System Manager's Manual (that's the source and version/datestamp vibe, iykyk) — go forth and ifquery responsibly ✨🎀🦋