[SOLVED] Conky and changing the network interface(for whatever it may be).

Hi there,

I'm hoping you can help. I have a conky.conf script which has the network adaptors ie: ${addr eth0 }. I can change the eth0 to whatever I want using sed -e s/eth0/newinterface_here/g oldfile > newfile.

But I want to know how to read whatever the active interface is, this could be for any machine and one of the multiple names. ie: eno1,eth0,em1,ens1, enp2so etc(you get the idea). I only want the active port and not any wireless etc.
Something like: ip addr | awk '/state UP/ {print $2}' | sed 's/.$//'

And then pass the result to 'newinterface_here'

I've tried to write a script but the best I'm getting is that eth0 is removed from the script and not adding eg:'em1'.

Can you help please?

I know I can write multiple adaptors and select the active one but I don't want this. When the script is run I want it to do: 1) This is the adaptor 2)Replace the text eth0 with (1) 3) Write the new file correct for this machine.

so you need a script that can find out what the active device is on any box, cat5 not wifi, then take that and add it to your conky file. I only have wifi but you need to know the command to find the information, then look at its output to figure out where to get what you're looking for

#output
2: wlo1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP mode DORMANT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:24:d7:cf:9e:a4 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

#gets my wifi device name holds it in a var. 
device="$(ip link | awk '/2:/{print $2}' | rev | cut -c 2- | rev)"
#use double quotes
 sed -i "s|eth0|$device|" dave

#putting it together

device="$(ip link | awk '/2:/{print $2}' | rev | cut -c 2- | rev)" | sed -i "s|eth0|$device|" dave

#before
$ cat dave
obodfdf

eth0  fgds
bogdg
sds

#after

$ cat dave
obodfdf

wlo1  fgds
bogdg
sds

putting it all in one line

sed -i "s|eth0|$(ip link | awk '/2:/{print $2}' | rev | cut -c 2- | rev)|" dave

with me using ip link, and UP for the check, as there is two up's in the output

$ ip link
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: wlo1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP mode DORMANT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:24:d7:cf:9e:a4 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

#returns

$ device="$(ip link | awk '/UP/{print $2}' | rev | cut -c 2- | rev)" ; echo $device
lo wlo1

but if you cannot work that out, then post back for further assistant.

BW - Thanks. Yes the wired network.

ip addr | awk '/state UP/ {print $2}' | sed 's/.$//' - This works to get the name(or the text I need).

What I don't have is the correct script. I keep making a hash of everything and need advice.

As I said I have the sed part just about correct, I can manually make the change(as in I can run the sed part in terminal fine). I just need to know what to put in the script.

#!/bin/bash
INTERFACE="ip addr | awk '/state UP/ {print $2}' | sed 's/.$//'" && sed -e s/eth0/$INTERFACE/g oldfile > newfile

Originally Posted by justme48 BW - Thanks. Yes the wired network. ip addr | awk '/state UP/ {print $2}' | sed 's/.$//' - This works to get the name(or the text I need). What I don't have is the correct script. I keep making a hash of everything and need advice. As I said I have the sed part just about correct, I can manually make the change(as in I can run the sed part in terminal fine). I just need to know what to put in the script. #!/bin/bash INTERFACE="ip addr | awk '/state UP/ {print $2}' | sed 's/.$//'" && sed -e s/eth0/$INTERFACE/g oldfile > newfile

what works on the command line. Just put it into a script. that simple.
did you chck your put put of awk ?

$ INTERFACE="$(ip addr | awk '/state UP/ {print $2}')" ; echo $INTERFACE
wlo1:

the : colon will get in the way yes?
try this

sed -i "s|eth0|$(ip add | awk '/state UP/{print $2}' | rev | cut -c 2- | rev)|" test.conf

put that into a file then
chmod +x filename
then

./filename

then open your test file to see if you're getting the desired results.

this does not need to be a bash script, the file just needs to be executable.
the rev reverse the text gotten, then cut removes the unwanted part the - hyphen removes everything past the start 2 .. you might have to adjust the 2 to whatever works for you. that is if you get more than just the eth0, eth1 etc..

the put it back forwards again by using another rev

conky has a

$gw_iface

variable that will give you the currently active interface.
then it has various

$if_...

constructs, particularly the

$if_up

construct.
among these options it's possible to implement what you want straight from conky without any external script.

https://github.com/brndnmtthws/conky/wiki

Thanks guys for the help. Missed that conky variable.

aren't you going to show us your solution?