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Every time I try to find out how to do this, I find out how to do it on a linux, and it doesn't transfer. How do I connect to a WiFi network using Mac Terminal Bash?

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3 Answers 3

Reset to default
21

As of Snow Leopard (Mac OS X v10.6.x) and possibly earlier, you can do:

networksetup -setairportnetwork $INTERFACE $SSID $PASSWORD

Where...

  • $INTERFACE is the "enX" style identifier for your AirPort card (usually en1, but it's en0 on MacBook Airs and en2 on Mac Pros, and can vary for other reasons as well)
  • $SSID is your network name, such as "Simon's SSID". Enclose it in quotes if it contains spaces.
  • $PASSWORD is your WEP, WPA-PSK, or WPA2-PSK password.

If you look at the man page or help/usage statement for networksetup you'll see that it has other AirPort-related subcommand for getting or setting the power state (AirPort card on/off), and for managing the Preferred Networks list and 802.1X profiles (if your network uses 802.1X, such as a WPA Enterprise or WPA2 Enterprise network would).

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3

Figured it out:

sudo airport -A

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2
  • 2
    there is no "-A" option in airport
    – Luxspes
    Commented Sep 13, 2013 at 18:34
  • 1
    Probably should gave have been s … which is the key next to a on a keyboard.
    – kaiser
    Commented Sep 9, 2016 at 16:03
2

Here is a little guide on using airport in the Command Line

Apparently you can use 

$ airport

as a command. I would try 

$ airport -help

and see if it brings up some options.

This answer is outdated. Please ignore it

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8
  • My SSID contains spaces, how would I enter it?
    – JShoe
    Commented May 20, 2011 at 23:03
  • Put it into quotations. Like "Simon's SSID". So the command may be something like: airport -x "Simon's SSID"
    – Simon Sheehan
    Commented May 20, 2011 at 23:06
  • make that /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport, on my computer, at least.
    – Nathan Grigg
    Commented May 21, 2011 at 0:13
  • @Simon what would the -x do? @nathang why would it change? How do I find what the correct location on my computer would be?
    – JShoe
    Commented May 21, 2011 at 3:05
  • How in the world did this answer, which has no hope of working, get upvotes?
    – Spiff
    Commented May 21, 2011 at 3:56

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