What is IP Address Validation?
IP address validation checks whether a string is a properly formatted IPv4 or IPv6 address. Beyond syntax checking, this tool identifies the address type and classifies it (private, public, loopback, etc.).
Use this for validating user input, verifying network configurations, or quickly identifying what type of IP address you're working with.
IPv4 vs IPv6
IPv4: Four decimal numbers (0-255) separated by dots. Example: 192.168.1.100. About 4.3 billion possible addresses.
IPv6: Eight groups of four hex digits separated by colons. Example: 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334. Vastly more addresses available.
Common IP Types
The validator identifies these categories:
- Private - Reserved for internal networks (192.168.x.x, 10.x.x.x)
- Public - Routable on the internet
- Loopback - Points to local machine (127.0.0.1)
- Link-Local - For local network segment only
- Multicast - For one-to-many transmission
Frequently Asked Questions
What is IP address validation?
IP validation checks if a string is a properly formatted IP address. It verifies the structure (four numbers for IPv4, eight groups for IPv6) and that values are in valid ranges.
What's the difference between IPv4 and IPv6?
IPv4 uses 32 bits (4 octets like 192.168.1.1). IPv6 uses 128 bits (8 groups of hex like 2001:db8::1). IPv6 was created because IPv4 addresses ran out.
What are private IP ranges?
Private IPs are reserved for internal networks: 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16 for IPv4. These aren't routable on the public internet.
Is 0.0.0.0 a valid IP?
Syntactically yes, but it has special meaning (all interfaces). Similarly, 127.0.0.1 is loopback (localhost), and 255.255.255.255 is broadcast.