Here Is What A IP Address Looks Like

A IP address looks like 148.251.128.237 and kind of reminds you of a phone number doesn't it? After all, they call the IP address the phone number of the Internet and it does work very similar.

IP addresses are a series of numbers and decimals arranged in a specific order. At least for what everyone for years have known them as in IPv4. Since the introduction of IPv6, IP addresses are separated by colons and contains letters and numbers. IPv4 is really simple to understand and IPv6 becomes a little more complicated.

Here is what a full IPv6 IP address looks like FE80:0000:0000:0000:0303:B3FF:FE1E:2983 or the condensed version FE80::0202:B3FF:FE1E:8329 where you can notice two colons side by side after the first segment.

So how do you know when a IPv6 can be in a collapsed view? Go back and look at the full IPv6 IP and now look at the condensed version. Do you see where the colons are listed twice after the first segment and all of the 0000 segments are gone? That’s right!

When you see colons side by side you will know that everything between the colons are 0000 segments containing only zeros. It’s kind of like a accordion.

Until IPv6 becomes popular and in use at more place as the Internet runs out of IP addresses, you will see IPv4 as the predominant type of IP address. Knowing what a IPv4 format looks like will help you explain it to your friends and coworkers. Click here to see what your IP address looks like.