Best way to extract MAC address from ifconfig's output?

Question

What is the best way to extract the MAC address from ifconfig\'s output?

Sample output:

bash-3.00# ifconfig eth0        
eth0      Link          


        

Answer 1

I needed to get MAC address of the active adapter, so ended up using this command.

ifconfig -a | awk '/^[a-z]/ { iface=$1; mac=$NF; next } /inet addr:/ { print mac }' | grep -o -E '([[:xdigit:]]{1,2}:){5}[[:xdigit:]]{1,2}'

Hope it helps.