How to connect wireless ap by command in Ubuntu? You can use two commands, 'iwlist', 'iwconfig'. # iwlist --help Usage: iwlist [interface] scanning [essid NNN] [last] [interface] frequency [interface] channel [interface] bitrate [interface] rate [interface] encryption [interface] keys [interface] power [interface] txpower [interface] retry [interface] ap [interface] accesspoints [interface] peers [interface] event [interface] auth [interface] wpakeys [interface] genie [interface] modulation # iwlist wlan0 scanning essid ap_name # iwconfig --help Usage: iwconfig [interface] interface essid {NNN|any|on|off} interface mode {managed|ad-hoc|master|...} interface freq N.NNN[k|...