INET_NTOP(3) Library Functions Manual INET_NTOP(3)

inet_ntop inet_pton — convert IPv4 and IPv6 addresses between binary and text form

#include <arpa/inet.h>

const char *inet_ntop(int af, const void *restrict src,
       char *restrict dst, socklen_t size);
int inet_pton(int af, const char *restrict src, void *restrict dst);

The inet_ntop () function shall convert a numeric address into a text string suitable for presentation. The af argument shall specify the family of the address. This can be AF_INET [IP6] or AF_INET6. The src argument points to a buffer holding an IPv4 address if the af argument is AF_INET, [IP6] or an IPv6 address if the af argument is AF_INET6; the address must be in network byte order. The dst argument points to a buffer where the function stores the resulting text string; it shall not be NULL. The argument specifies the size of this buffer, which shall be large enough to hold the text string (INET_ADDRSTRLEN characters for IPv4, [IP6] INET6_ADDRSTRLEN characters for IPv6).

The inet_pton () function shall convert an address in its standard text presentation form into its numeric binary form. The af argument shall specify the family of the address. The AF_INET [IP6] and AF_INET6 address families shall be supported. The src argument points to the string being passed in. The dst argument points to a buffer into which the function stores the numeric address; this shall be large enough to hold the numeric address (32 bits for AF_INET, [IP6] 128 bits for AF_INET6).

If the af argument of inet_pton () is AF_INET, the src string shall be in the standard IPv4 dotted-decimal form:

ddd.ddd.ddd.ddd

where "ddd" is a one to three digit decimal number between 0 and 255 (see inet_addr(3)). The inet_pton () function does not accept other formats (such as the octal numbers, hexadecimal numbers, and fewer than four numbers that inet_addr(3) accepts).

[IP6] If the af argument of inet_pton () is AF_INET6, the src string shall be in one of the following standard IPv6 text forms:

  1. The preferred form is "x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x", where the ‘x’ s are the hexadecimal values of the eight 16-bit pieces of the address. Leading zeros in individual fields can be omitted, but there shall be at least one numeral in every field.
  2. A string of contiguous zero fields in the preferred form can be shown as "::". The "::" can only appear once in an address. Unspecified addresses ( "0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0" ) may be represented simply as "::".
  3. A third form that is sometimes more convenient when dealing with a mixed environment of IPv4 and IPv6 nodes is "x:x:x:x:x:x:d.d.d.d", where the ‘x’ s are the hexadecimal values of the six high-order 16-bit pieces of the address, and the ‘d’ s are the decimal values of the four low-order 8-bit pieces of the address (standard IPv4 representation).
A more extensive description of the standard representations of IPv6 addresses can be found in RFC 2373.

The inet_ntop () function shall return a pointer to the buffer containing the text string if the conversion succeeds, and NULL otherwise, and set errno to indicate the error.

The inet_pton () function shall return 1 if the conversion succeeds, with the address pointed to by dst in network byte order. It shall return 0 if the input is not a valid IPv4 dotted-decimal string [IP6] or a valid IPv6 address string, or -1 with errno set to [EAFNOSUPPORT] if the af argument is unknown.

The inet_ntop () and inet_pton () functions shall fail if:

The af argument is invalid.
The size of the inet_ntop () result buffer is inadequate.

None.

None.

None.

None.

The Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (“POSIX.1”), <arpa/inet.h>

First released in Issue 6. Derived from the XNS, Issue 5.2 specification.

IPv6 extensions are marked.

The keyword is added to the inet_ntop () and inet_pton () prototypes for alignment with the ISO/IEC 9899:1999 (“ISO C99”) standard.

IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (“POSIX.1”)/Cor 1-2002, item XSH/TC1/D6/29 is applied, adding ``the address must be in network byte order'' to the end of the fourth sentence of the first paragraph in the DESCRIPTION.

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January 1, 2004 posix.fail