Understanding IW command / options

[hpng]

I went to this page....

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/natty/en/man8/iw.8.html

and saw this:
IW - COMMAND SYNTAX

OBJECT dev <interface name> - network interface. phy <phy name> - wireless hardware device (by name). phy#<phy index> - wireless hardware device (by index). reg - regulatory agent.

I am not sure how to use it.
For example: iw phy <phy name>
Where can I get correct Linux name for phy?
The Ubuntu man pages is quite vague and lack many description.
Is there a better reference?

the I went here:
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Documentation/iw#Adding_interfaces_with_iw
and saw this:
For example to add a monitor interface:
iw phy phy0 interface add moni0 type monitorwhere you can replace monitor by anything else and moni0 by the interface name, and need to replace phy0 by the PHY name for your hardware (usually phy0 will be correct unless you hotplugged or reloaded any modules.) If your udev is configured incorrectly, the newly created virtual interface may be renamed by it right away, use ip link to list all interfaces.

It still does not explain where they got phy name ( phy0 ).
In fact the entire description on iw needs better examples and explanation....
So I think I am missing a link here to complete my understanding.
Is there a reference discussing how names are assigned to hardware devices?
i wonder a Linux driver development type book may shed some light....., if there is such a book or reference....

Comments please.

Thanks.

[Ms. Daisy]

To discover the names of hardware devices on your computer, type in a terminal

lshw

You're not looking for a generic name of a hardware device, you're looking for the specific name of your specific hardware. That won't be in any textbook.

[cw9000]

I used the command

iw phy phy0

for my wlan0 and it worked. you can get information about a particular device using

iw dev wlan0 info

you will see

iwphy #

where # is an actual integer. And your entirely right, there isn't much documentation on it ( or any )

[Iowan]

Old thread.