wlp2s0

wlp2s0 is a typical name for a wireless local area network (WLAN) interface on Linux systems when using the predictable network interface naming scheme. The prefix “wl” identifies a wireless LAN device, while the following elements convey the device’s PCI location and function (for example, “p2” indicates PCI bus 2 and “s0” indicates function 0).

In most Linux environments, wlp2s0 appears as a network interface in the system’s networking stack. It is exposed under /sys/class/net/wlp2s0 and can be managed with standard tools such as ip, iw, and NetworkManager. Commands like ip link show wlp2s0, ip addr show wlp2s0, and ip link set wlp2s0 up are commonly used to inspect and configure the interface. Wireless configuration and connections are typically handled by tools such as wpa_supplicant and NetworkManager, which operate through the interface name.

Origin and naming scheme: wlp2s0 is part of the predictable network interface names introduced by udev/systemd to replace older names like wlan0. Under this scheme, wireless PCI/PCIe devices use the wl prefix with subsequent p (bus) and s (function) numbers, while USB wireless adapters use wlx followed by a portion of the MAC address. This naming helps ensure consistent names across reboots and hardware reconfigurations.

Reverting to older naming conventions is possible on some distributions by disabling predictable names (for example, using the kernel parameter net.ifnames=0 and biosdevname=0), which may result in names like wlan0.