The command ifconfig stands for Interface CONFIGuration. It is used to configure, control, and query network interface parameters of your system.
If you try running this command with no arguments, it will simply display information about all network interfaces currently active.
    ifconfig
The output sill resembles something like this, of course it changes from machine to machine: 
en5: flags=8863 UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST mtu 1500
    ether ac:de:48:00:11:22
    inet6 fe80::aede:48ff:fe00:1122%en5 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x8
    nd6 options=201 PERFORMNUD,DAD
    media: autoselect (100baseTX full-duplex)
    status: active

ap1: flags=8802 BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST mtu 1500
    ether f2:18:98:41:74:42
    media: autoselect
    status: inactive
    ...
If you want to view the configuration of all network interfaces, not just the ones currently active, you can use flag a. 
ifconfig -a
If you want to view the configuration of a specific interface, you can specify the name of the interface you want to view after the command ifconfig: 
ifconfig ap1
This command will show only the configuration of ap1.
To enable an interface, you can use the command ifconfig with the name of the interface you want to enable, followed by the key word up.
However, enabling or disabling a device, is a privilege reserved for the super user, therefore you also have to use the command sudo. 
   sudo ifconfig ap1 up
To disable an interface, you can follow the same procedure, this time using the key word down. 
   sudo ifconfig ap1 down