title: What are en0, en1, p2p, and so on, that are displayed after executing ifconfig?
body: <p>When I type <code>ifconfig</code> on my Mac terminal, several information is printed. But I can't understand what they are. Can anyone briefly tell me what they are? What are <code>lo0</code>, <code>gif0</code>, <code>en0</code>, and so on?</p>
  
  <p>Here is the results of my terminal.</p>
  
  <pre><code>  Last login: Wed Apr 29 21:22:21 on ttys000
    gim-yeongdeog-ui-MacBook-Air:~ KimYoungDirk$ ifconfig
    lo0: flags=8049&lt;UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST&gt; mtu 16384
         options=3&lt;RXCSUM,TXCSUM&gt;
         inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 
         inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000 
         inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1 
         nd6 options=1&lt;PERFORMNUD&gt;
    gif0: flags=8010&lt;POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST&gt; mtu 1280
    stf0: flags=0&lt;&gt; mtu 1280
    en0: flags=8863&lt;UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST&gt; mtu 1500
         ether 64:76:ba:ae:a3:02 
         inet6 fe80::6676:baff:feae:a302%en0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4 
         inet 172.30.7.47 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 172.30.255.255
         nd6 options=1&lt;PERFORMNUD&gt;
         media: autoselect
         status: active
    en1: flags=8963&lt;UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST&gt; mtu 1500
         options=60&lt;TSO4,TSO6&gt;
         ether 32:00:1b:3e:80:00 
         media: autoselect &lt;full-duplex&gt;
         status: inactive
    p2p0: flags=8843&lt;UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST&gt; mtu 2304
          ether 06:76:ba:ae:a3:02 
          media: autoselect
          status: inactive
   awdl0: flags=8843&lt;UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST&gt; mtu 1452
          ether 0e:f1:59:ca:a5:30 
          inet6 fe80::cf1:59ff:feca:a530%awdl0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x7 
          nd6 options=1&lt;PERFORMNUD&gt;
          media: autoselect
          status: active
  bridge0: flags=8863&lt;UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST&gt; mtu 1500
           options=63&lt;RXCSUM,TXCSUM,TSO4,TSO6&gt;
           ether 66:76:ba:ea:38:00 
          Configuration:
              id 0:0:0:0:0:0 priority 0 hellotime 0 fwddelay 0
              maxage 0 holdcnt 0 proto stp maxaddr 100 timeout 1200
              root id 0:0:0:0:0:0 priority 0 ifcost 0 port 0
              ipfilter disabled flags 0x2
          member: en1 flags=3&lt;LEARNING,DISCOVER&gt;
                 ifmaxaddr 0 port 5 priority 0 path cost 0
          nd6 options=1&lt;PERFORMNUD&gt;
          media: &lt;unknown type&gt;
          status: inactive
    gim-yeongdeog-ui-MacBook-Air:~ KimYoungDirk$ 
  </code></pre>