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INET(3)			  OpenBSD Programmer's Manual		       INET(3)

NAME
     inet_addr, inet_aton, inet_lnaof, inet_makeaddr, inet_netof,
     inet_network, inet_ntoa, inet_ntop, inet_pton - Internet address
     manipulation routines

SYNOPSIS
     #include <sys/types.h>
     #include <sys/socket.h>
     #include <netinet/in.h>
     #include <arpa/inet.h>

     in_addr_t
     inet_addr(const char *cp);

     int
     inet_aton(const char *cp, struct in_addr *addr);

     in_addr_t
     inet_lnaof(struct in_addr in);

     struct in_addr
     inet_makeaddr(in_addr_t net, in_addr_t lna);

     in_addr_t
     inet_netof(struct in_addr in);

     in_addr_t
     inet_network(const char *cp);

     char *
     inet_ntoa(struct in_addr in);

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

     int
     inet_pton(int af, const char *src, void *dst);

DESCRIPTION
     The routines inet_aton(), inet_addr(), and inet_network() interpret
     character strings representing numbers expressed in the Internet standard
     ``dot'' notation.	The inet_pton() function converts a presentation
     format address (that is, printable form as held in a character string) to
     network format (usually a struct in_addr or some other internal binary
     representation, in network byte order).  It returns 1 if the address was
     valid for the specified address family; 0 if the address wasn't parseable
     in the specified address family; or -1 if some system error occurred (in
     which case errno will have been set).  This function is presently valid
     for AF_INET and AF_INET6.	The inet_aton() routine interprets the
     specified character string as an Internet address, placing the address
     into the structure provided.  It returns 1 if the string was successfully
     interpreted, or 0 if the string was invalid.  The inet_addr() and
     inet_network() functions return numbers suitable for use as Internet
     addresses and Internet network numbers, respectively.

     The function inet_ntop() converts an address from network format (usually
     a struct in_addr or some other binary form, in network byte order) to
     presentation format (suitable for external display purposes).  It returns
     NULL if a system error occurs (in which case, errno will have been set),
     or it returns a pointer to the destination string.	 The routine
     inet_ntoa() takes an Internet address and returns an ASCII string
     representing the address in dot notation.	The routine inet_makeaddr()
     takes an Internet network number and a local network address and
     constructs an Internet address from it.  The routines inet_netof() and
     inet_lnaof() break apart Internet host addresses, returning the network
     number and local network address part, respectively.

     All Internet addresses are returned in network order (bytes ordered from
     left to right).  All network numbers and local address parts are returned
     as machine format integer values.

INTERNET ADDRESSES (IP VERSION 4)
     Values specified using dot notation take one of the following forms:

	   a.b.c.d
	   a.b.c
	   a.b
	   a

     When four parts are specified, each is interpreted as a byte of data and
     assigned, from left to right, to the four bytes of an Internet address.
     Note that when an Internet address is viewed as a 32-bit integer quantity
     on a system that uses little-endian byte order (such as the Intel 386,
     486 and Pentium processors) the bytes referred to above appear as
     ``d.c.b.a''.  That is, little-endian bytes are ordered from right to
     left.

     When a three part address is specified, the last part is interpreted as a
     16-bit quantity and placed in the rightmost two bytes of the network
     address.  This makes the three part address format convenient for
     specifying Class B network addresses as ``128.net.host''.

     When a two part address is supplied, the last part is interpreted as a
     24-bit quantity and placed in the rightmost three bytes of the network
     address.  This makes the two part address format convenient for
     specifying Class A network addresses as ``net.host''.

     When only one part is given, the value is stored directly in the network
     address without any byte rearrangement.

     All numbers supplied as ``parts'' in a dot notation may be decimal,
     octal, or hexadecimal, as specified in the C language (i.e., a leading 0x
     or 0X implies hexadecimal; a leading 0 implies octal; otherwise, the
     number is interpreted as decimal).

INTERNET ADDRESSES (IP VERSION 6)
     In order to support scoped IPv6 addresses, getaddrinfo(3) and
     getnameinfo(3) are recommended rather than the functions presented here.

     The presentation format of an IPv6 address is given in RFC 2373:

     There are three conventional forms for representing IPv6 addresses as
     text strings:

     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.
	  Examples:

		FEDC:BA98:7654:3210:FEDC:BA98:7654:3210
		1080:0:0:0:8:800:200C:417A

	  Note that it is not necessary to write the leading zeros in an
	  individual field, but there must be at least one numeral in every
	  field (except for the case described in 2.).

     2.	  Due to the method of allocating certain styles of IPv6 addresses, it
	  will be common for addresses to contain long strings of zero bits.
	  In order to make writing addresses containing zero bits easier, a
	  special syntax is available to compress the zeros.  The use of
	  ``::'' indicates multiple groups of 16 bits of zeros.	 The ``::''
	  can only appear once in an address.  The ``::'' can also be used to
	  compress the leading and/or trailing zeros in an address.

	  For example the following addresses:

		1080:0:0:0:8:800:200C:417A  a unicast address
		FF01:0:0:0:0:0:0:43	    a multicast address
		0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1		    the loopback address
		0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0		    the unspecified addresses

	  may be represented as:

		1080::8:800:200C:417A	    a unicast address
		FF01::43		    a multicast address
		::1			    the loopback address
		::			    the unspecified addresses

     3.	  An alternative 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).  Examples:

		0:0:0:0:0:0:13.1.68.3
		0:0:0:0:0:FFFF:129.144.52.38

	  or in compressed form:

		::13.1.68.3
		::FFFF:129.144.52.38

DIAGNOSTICS
     The constant INADDR_NONE is returned by inet_addr() and inet_network()
     for malformed requests.

SEE ALSO
     byteorder(3), gethostbyname(3), getnetent(3), inet_net(3), hosts(5),
     networks(5)

     IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture, RFC 2373, July 1998.

     Basic Socket Interface Extensions for IPv6, RFC 3493, February 2003.

STANDARDS
     The inet_ntop and inet_pton functions conform to the IETF IPv6 BSD API
     and address formatting specifications.  Note that inet_pton does not
     accept 1-, 2-, or 3-part dotted addresses; all four parts must be
     specified.	 This is a narrower input set than that accepted by inet_aton.

HISTORY
     The inet_addr, inet_network, inet_makeaddr, inet_lnaof, and inet_netof
     functions appeared in 4.2BSD.  The inet_aton and inet_ntoa functions
     appeared in 4.3BSD.  The inet_pton and inet_ntop functions appeared in
     BIND 4.9.4.

BUGS
     The value INADDR_NONE (0xffffffff) is a valid broadcast address, but
     inet_addr() cannot return that value without indicating failure.  Also,
     inet_addr() should have been designed to return a struct in_addr.	The
     newer inet_aton() function does not share these problems, and almost all
     existing code should be modified to use inet_aton() instead.

     The problem of host byte ordering versus network byte ordering is
     confusing.

     The string returned by inet_ntoa() resides in a static memory area.

OpenBSD 4.9		       December 9, 2008			   OpenBSD 4.9
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