NAME NetAddr::IP - Manages IPv4 addresses and subnets SYNOPSIS use NetAddr::IP; my $ip = new NetAddr::IP 'loopback'; print "The address is ", $ip->addr, " with mask ", $ip->mask, "\n" ; if ($ip->within(new NetAddr::IP "127.0.0.0", "255.0.0.0")) { print "Is a loopback address\n"; } # This prints 127.0.0.1/32 print "You can also say $ip...\n"; DESCRIPTION This module provides a number of methods useful for handling IPv4 addresses ans subnets. Hopefully, its methods are also usable for IPv6 addresses. Methods so far include: `->new([$addr, [ $mask ]])' This method creates a new IPv4 address with the supplied address in `$addr' and an optional netmask `$mask', which can be omitted to get a /32 mask. `$addr' can be almost anything that can be resolved to an IP address in all the notations I have seen over time. It can optionally contain the mask in CIDR notation. If called with no arguments, 'default' is assumed. `->broadcast()' Returns a new object refering to the broadcast address of a given subnet. `->network()' Returns a new object refering to the network address of a given subnet. `->addr()' Returns a scalar with the address part of the object as a dotted-quad. `->mask()' Returns a scalar with the mask as a dotted-quad. `->masklen()' Returns a scalar the number of one bits in the mask. `->cidr()' Returns a scalar with the address and mask in CIDR notation. `->numeric()' When called in a scalar context, will return a numeric representation of the address part of the IP address. When called in an array contest, it returns a list of two elements. The first element is as described, the second element is the numeric representation of the netmask. `->wildcard()' When called in a scalar context, returns the wildcard bits corresponding to the mask, in dotted-quad format. When called in an array context, returns a two-element array. The first element, is the address part. The second element, is the wildcard translation of the mask. `$me->contains($other)' Returns true when `$me' completely contains `$other'. False is returned otherwise and `undef' is returned if `$me' and `$other' are of different versions. `$me->within($other)' The complement of `->contains()'. Returns true when `$me' is completely con tained within `$other'. `->split($bits)' Returns a list of objects, representing subnets of `$bits' mask produced by splitting the original object, which is left unchanged. Note that `$bits' must be longer than the original object's mask in order for it to be splittable. Note that `$bits' can be given as an integer (the length of the mask) or as a dotted-quad. If omitted, a host mask is assumed. `->splitref($bits)' A (faster) version of `->split()' that returns a reference to a list of objects instead of a real list. This is useful when large numbers of objects are expected. `->hostenum()' Returns the list of hosts within a subnet. `->hostenumref()' Faster version of `->hostenum()', returning a reference to a list. `$me->compact($addr1, $addr2, ...)' Given a list of objects (including `$me'), this method will compact all the addresses and subnets into the largest (ie, least specific) subnets possible that contain exactly all of the given objects. Note that in versions prior to 3.02, if fed with the same IP subnets multiple times, these subnets would be returned. From 3.02 on, a more "correct" approach has been adopted and only one address would be returned. `$me->compactref(\@list)' As usual, a faster version of =item `->compact()' that returns a reference to a list. Note that this method takes a reference to a list instead. `->first()' Returns a new object representing the first useable IP address within the subnet (ie, the first host address). `->last()' Returns a new object representing the last useable IP address within the subnet (ie, one less than the broadcast address). `->num()' Returns the number of useable addresses IP addresses within the subnet, not counting the broadcast address. In addition to the methods, some functions are overloaded to ease manipulation of the objects. The available operations are: Stringification An object can be used just as a string. For instance, the following code my $ip = new NetAddr::IP 'loopback'; print "$ip\n"; Will print the string 127.0.0.1/8. Equality You can test for equality with either `eq' or `=='. Dereferencing as an ARRAY You can do something along the lines of my $net = new NetAddr::IP $cidr_spec; for my $ip (@$net) { print "Host $ip is in $net\n"; } However, note that this might generate a very large amount of items in the list. You must be careful when doing this kind of expansion. Sum and auto-increment You can add a constant to an object. This will return a new object referring to the host address obtained by incrementing (or decrementing) the given address. YOu can do this with the operators +, -, += and -=. The auto-increment or auto-decrement operators will return a new object pointing to the next or previous host address in the subnet. These are the ++ and -- operators. EXPORT None by default. HISTORY 0.01 * original version; Basic testing and release to CPAN as version 0.01. This is considered beta software. 0.02 * Multiple changes to fix endiannes issues. This code is now moderately tested on Wintel and Sun/Solaris boxes. 0.03 * Added ->first and ->last methods. Version changed to 0.03. 1.00 * Implemented ->new_subnet. Version changed to 1.00. * less croak()ing when improper input is fed to the module. A more consistent 'undef' is returned now instead to allow the user to better handle the error. 1.10 * As per Marnix A. Van Ammers [mav6@ns02.comp.pge.com] suggestion, changed the syntax of the loop in host_enum to be the same of the enum method. * Fixed the MS-DOS ^M at the end-of-line problem. This should make the module easier to use for *nix users. 1.20 * Implemented ->compact and ->expand methods. * Applying for official name 1.21 * Added ->addr_number and ->mask_bits. Currently we return normal numbers (not BigInts). Please test this in your platform and report any problems! 2.00 * Released under the new *official* name of NetAddr::IP 2.10 * Added support for ->new($min, $max, $bits) form * Added ->to_numeric. This helps serializing objects 2.20 * Chris Dowling reported that the sort method introduced in v1.20 for ->expand and ->compact doesn't always return a number under perl versions < 5.6.0. His fix was applied and redistributed. Thanks Chris! * This module is hopefully released with no CR-LF issues! * Fixed a warning about uninitialized values during make test 2.21 * Dennis Boylan pointed out a bug under Linux and perhaps other platforms as well causing the error "Sort subroutine didn't return single value at /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.6.0/NetAddr/IP.pm line 299, <> line 2." or similar. This was fixed. 2.22 * Some changes suggested by Jeroen Ruigrok and Anton Berezin were included. Thanks guys! 2.23 * Bug fix for /XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX netmasks under v5.6.1 suggested by Tim Wuyts. Thanks! * Tested the module under MACHTYPE=hppa1.0-hp-hpux11.00. It is now konwn to work under Linux (Intel/AMD), Digital Unix (Alpha), Solaris (Sun), HP-UX11 (HP-PA-RISC), Windows 9x/NT/2K (using ActiveState on Intel). 2.24 * A spurious warning when expand()ing with -w under certain circumstances was removed. This involved using /31s, /32s and the same netmask as the input. Thanks to Elie Rosenblum for pointing it out. * Slight change in license terms to ease redistribution as a Debian package. 3.00 This is a major rewrite, supposed to fix a number of issues pointed out in earlier versions. The goals for this version include getting rid of BigInts, speeding up and also cleaning up the code, which is written in a modular enough way so as to allow IPv6 functionality in the future, taking benefit from most of the methods. Note that no effort has been made to remain backwards compatible with earlier versions. In particular, certain semantics of the earlier versions have been removed in favor of faster performance. This version was tested under Win98/2K (ActiveState 5.6.0/5.6.1), HP-UX11 on PA-RISC (5.6.0), RedHat Linux 6.2 (5.6.0), Digital Unix on Alpha (5.6.0), Solaris on Sparc (5.6.0) and possibly others. 3.01 * Added `->numeric()'. * `->new()' called with no parameters creates a default NetAddr::IP object. 3.02 * Fxed `->compact()' for cases of equal subnets or mutually-contained IP addresses as pointed out by Peter Wirdemo. Note that now only distinct IP addresses will be returned by this method. * Fixed the docs as suggested by Thomas Linden. * Introduced overloading to ease certain common operations. * Fixed compatibility issue with C<-E<gt>num()> on 64-bit processors. 3.03 * Added more comparison operators. * As per Peter Wirdemo's suggestion, added `->wildcard()' for producing subnets in wildcard format. * Added `++' and `+' to provide for efficient iteration operations over all the hosts of a subnet without `->expand()'ing it. AUTHOR Luis E. Munoz <lem@cantv.net> WARRANTY This software comes with the same warranty as perl itself (ie, none), so by using it you accept any and all the liability. LICENSE This software is (c) Luis E. Munoz. It can be used under the terms of the perl artistic license provided that proper credit for the work of the author is preserved in the form of this copyright notice and license for this module. SEE ALSO perl(1).