Validating IPv4 addresses with regexp

Question

I've been trying to get an efficient regex for IPv4 validation, but without much luck. It seemed at one point I had had it with (25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?(\.|$)){4}, but it produces some strange results:

$ grep --version
grep (GNU grep) 2.7
$ grep -E '\b(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?(\.|$)){4}\b' <<< 192.168.1.1
192.168.1.1
$ grep -E '\b(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?(\.|$)){4}\b' <<< 192.168.1.255
192.168.1.255
$ grep -E '\b(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?(\.|$)){4}\b' <<< 192.168.255.255
$ grep -E '\b(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?(\.|$)){4}\b' <<< 192.168.1.2555
192.168.1.2555

I did a search to see if this had already been asked and answered, but other answers appear to simply show how to determine 4 groups of 1-3 numbers, or do not work for me.

Answer 1

You've already got a working answer but just in case you are curious what was wrong with your original approach, the answer is that you need parentheses around your alternation otherwise the (\.|$) is only required if the number is less than 200.

'\b((25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)(\.|$)){4}\b'
    ^                                    ^

Answer 2

^((25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\.){3}(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)$

Accept:

127.0.0.1
192.168.1.1
192.168.1.255
255.255.255.255
0.0.0.0
1.1.1.01        # This is an invalid IP address!

Reject:

30.168.1.255.1
127.1
192.168.1.256
-1.2.3.4
1.1.1.1.
3...3

Try online with unit tests: https://www.debuggex.com/r/-EDZOqxTxhiTncN6/1

Answer 3

Newest, Shortest, Least Readable Version (49 chars)

^((25[0-5]|(2[0-4]|1\d|[1-9]|)\d)(\.(?!$)|$)){4}$

The [0-9] blocks can be substituted by \d in 2 places - makes it a bit less readable, but definitely shorter.

Even Newer, even Shorter, Second least readable version (55 chars)

^((25[0-5]|(2[0-4]|1[0-9]|[1-9]|)[0-9])(\.(?!$)|$)){4}$

This version looks for the 250-5 case, after that it cleverly ORs all the possible cases for 200-249 100-199 10-99 cases. Notice that the |) part is not a mistake, but actually ORs the last case for the 0-9 range. I've also omitted the ?: non-capturing group part as we don't really care about the captured items, they would not be captured either way if we didn't have a full-match in the first place.

Old and shorter version (less readable) (63 chars)

^(?:(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|[1-9]?[0-9])(\.(?!$)|$)){4}$

Older (readable) version (70 chars)

^(?:(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[0-9])(\.(?!$)|$)){4}$

It uses the negative lookahead (?!) to remove the case where the ip might end with a .

Oldest answer (115 chars)

^(?:(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[0-9])\.){3}
    (?:25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[0-9])$

I think this is the most accurate and strict regex, it doesn't accept things like 000.021.01.0. it seems like most other answers here do and require additional regex to reject cases similar to that one - i.e. 0 starting numbers and an ip that ends with a .

Answer 4

IPv4 address (accurate capture) Matches 0.0.0.0 through 255.255.255.255, but does capture invalid addresses such as 1.1.000.1 Use this regex to match IP numbers with accuracy. Each of the 4 numbers is stored into a capturing group, so you can access them for further processing.

\b
(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\.
(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\.
(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\.
(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)
\b

taken from JGsoft RegexBuddy library

Edit: this (\.|$) part seems weird

Answer 5

I was in search of something similar for IPv4 addresses - a regex that also stopped commonly used private ip addresses from being validated (192.168.x.y, 10.x.y.z, 172.16.x.y) so used negative look aheads to accomplish this:

(?!(10\.|172\.(1[6-9]|2\d|3[01])\.|192\.168\.).*)
(?!255\.255\.255\.255)(25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|[1]\d\d|[1-9]\d|[1-9])
(\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|[1]\d\d|[1-9]\d|\d)){3}

(These should be on one line of course, formatted for readability purposes on 3 separate lines)

Debuggex Demo

It may not be optimised for speed, but works well when only looking for 'real' internet addresses.

Things that will (and should) fail:

0.1.2.3         (0.0.0.0/8 is reserved for some broadcasts)
10.1.2.3        (10.0.0.0/8 is considered private)
172.16.1.2      (172.16.0.0/12 is considered private)
172.31.1.2      (same as previous, but near the end of that range)
192.168.1.2     (192.168.0.0/16 is considered private)
255.255.255.255 (reserved broadcast is not an IP)
.2.3.4
1.2.3.
1.2.3.256
1.2.256.4
1.256.3.4
256.2.3.4
1.2.3.4.5
1..3.4

IPs that will (and should) work:

1.0.1.0         (China)
8.8.8.8         (Google DNS in USA)
100.1.2.3       (USA)
172.15.1.2      (USA)
172.32.1.2      (USA)
192.167.1.2     (Italy)

Provided in case anybody else is looking for validating 'Internet IP addresses not including the common private addresses'

Answer 6

I think many people reading this post will be looking for simpler regular expressions, even if they match some technically invalid IP addresses. (And, as noted elsewhere, regex probably isn't the right tool for properly validating an IP address anyway.)

Remove ^ and, where applicable, replace $ with \b, if you don't want to match the beginning/end of the line.

Basic Regular Expression (BRE) (tested on GNU grep, GNU sed, and vim):

/^[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+$/

Extended Regular Expression (ERE):

/^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$/

or:

/^([0-9]+(\.|$)){4}/

Perl-compatible Regular Expression (PCRE) (tested on Perl 5.18):

/^\d+\.\d+\.\d+\.\d+$/

or:

/^(\d+(\.|$)){4}/

Ruby (tested on Ruby 2.1):

Although supposed to be PCRE, Ruby for whatever reason allowed this regex not allowed by Perl 5.18:

/^(\d+[\.$]){4}/

My tests for all these are online here.

Answer 7

This is a little longer than some but this is what I use to match IPv4 addresses. Simple with no compromises.

^((25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|[1-9]?[0-9])\.){3}(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|[1-9]?[0-9])$

Answer 8

Above answers are valid but what if the ip address is not at the end of line and is in between text.. This regex will even work on that.

code: '\b((([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])(\.)){3}([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5]))\b'

input text file:

ip address 0.0.0.0 asfasf
 sad sa 255.255.255.255 cvjnzx
zxckjzbxk  999.999.999.999 jshbczxcbx
sjaasbfj 192.168.0.1 asdkjaksb
oyo 123241.24121.1234.3423 yo
yo 0000.0000.0000.0000 y
aw1a.21asd2.21ad.21d2
yo 254.254.254.254 y0
172.24.1.210 asfjas
200.200.200.200
000.000.000.000
007.08.09.210
010.10.30.110

output text:

0.0.0.0
255.255.255.255
192.168.0.1
254.254.254.254
172.24.1.210
200.200.200.200

Answer 9

''' This code works for me, and is as simple as that.

Here I have taken the value of ip and I am trying to match it with regex.

ip="25.255.45.67"    

op=re.match('(\d+).(\d+).(\d+).(\d+)',ip)

if ((int(op.group(1))<=255) and (int(op.group(2))<=255) and int(op.group(3))<=255) and (int(op.group(4))<=255)):

print("valid ip")

else:

print("Not valid")

Above condition checks if the value exceeds 255 for all the 4 octets then it is not a valid. But before applying the condition we have to convert them into integer since the value is in a string.

group(0) prints the matched output, Whereas group(1) prints the first matched value and here it is "25" and so on. '''

Answer 10

Here is a better one with passing/failing IPs attached

/^((?:[0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])[.]){3}(?:[0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])$/

Accepts

127.0.0.1
192.168.1.1
192.168.1.255
255.255.255.255
10.1.1.1
0.0.0.0

Rejects

1.1.1.01
30.168.1.255.1
127.1
192.168.1.256
-1.2.3.4
1.1.1.1.
3...3
192.168.1.099

Answer 11

/^(?:(25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]\d|\d)\.){3}(?1)$/m

Answer 12

For number from 0 to 255 I use this regex:

(([0-9])|([1-9][0-9])|(1([0-9]{2}))|(2[0-4][0-9])|(25[0-5]))

Above regex will match integer number from 0 to 255, but not match 256.

So for IPv4 I use this regex:

^(([0-9])|([1-9][0-9])|(1([0-9]{2}))|(2[0-4][0-9])|(25[0-5]))((\.(([0-9])|([1-9][0-9])|(1([0-9]{2}))|(2[0-4][0-9])|(25[0-5]))){3})$

It is in this structure: ^(N)((\.(N)){3})$ where N is the regex used to match number from 0 to 255.
This regex will match IP like below:

0.0.0.0
192.168.1.2

but not those below:

10.1.0.256
1.2.3.
127.0.1-2.3

For IPv4 CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) I use this regex:

^(([0-9])|([1-9][0-9])|(1([0-9]{2}))|(2[0-4][0-9])|(25[0-5]))((\.(([0-9])|([1-9][0-9])|(1([0-9]{2}))|(2[0-4][0-9])|(25[0-5]))){3})\/(([0-9])|([12][0-9])|(3[0-2]))$

It is in this structure: ^(N)((\.(N)){3})\/M$ where N is the regex used to match number from 0 to 255, and M is the regex used to match number from 0 to 32.
This regex will match CIDR like below:

0.0.0.0/0
192.168.1.2/32

but not those below:

10.1.0.256/16
1.2.3./24
127.0.0.1/33

And for list of IPv4 CIDR like "10.0.0.0/16", "192.168.1.1/32" I use this regex:

^("(([0-9])|([1-9][0-9])|(1([0-9]{2}))|(2[0-4][0-9])|(25[0-5]))((\.(([0-9])|([1-9][0-9])|(1([0-9]{2}))|(2[0-4][0-9])|(25[0-5]))){3})\/(([0-9])|([12][0-9])|(3[0-2]))")((,([ ]*)("(([0-9])|([1-9][0-9])|(1([0-9]{2}))|(2[0-4][0-9])|(25[0-5]))((\.(([0-9])|([1-9][0-9])|(1([0-9]{2}))|(2[0-4][0-9])|(25[0-5]))){3})\/(([0-9])|([12][0-9])|(3[0-2]))"))*)$

It is in this structure: ^(“C”)((,([ ]*)(“C”))*)$ where C is the regex used to match CIDR (like 0.0.0.0/0).
This regex will match list of CIDR like below:

“10.0.0.0/16”,”192.168.1.2/32”, “1.2.3.4/32”

but not those below:

“10.0.0.0/16” 192.168.1.2/32 “1.2.3.4/32”

Maybe it might get shorter but for me it is easy to understand so fine by me.

Hope it helps!

Answer 13

I managed to construct a regex from all other answers.

(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[1][0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[0-9]?)(\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[1][0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[0-9]?)){3}

Answer 14

IPv4 address is a very complicated thing.

Note: Indentation and lining are only for illustration purposes and do not exist in the real RegEx.

\b(
  ((
    (2(5[0-5]|[0-4][0-9])|1[0-9]{2}|[1-9]?[0-9])
  |
    0[Xx]0*[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,2}
  |
    0+[1-3]?[0-9]{1,2}
  )\.){1,3}
  (
    (2(5[0-5]|[0-4][0-9])|1[0-9]{2}|[1-9]?[0-9])
  |
    0[Xx]0*[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,2}
  |
    0+[1-3]?[0-9]{1,2}
  )
|
  (
    [1-3][0-9]{1,9}
  |
    [1-9][0-9]{,8}
  |
    (4([0-1][0-9]{8}
      |2([0-8][0-9]{7}
        |9([0-3][0-9]{6}
          |4([0-8][0-9]{5}
            |9([0-5][0-9]{4}
              |6([0-6][0-9]{3}
                |7([0-1][0-9]{2}
                  |2([0-8][0-9]{1}
                    |9([0-5]
    ))))))))))
  )
|
  0[Xx]0*[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,8}
|
  0+[1-3]?[0-7]{,10}
)\b

These IPv4 addresses are validated by the above RegEx.

127.0.0.1
2130706433
0x7F000001
017700000001
0x7F.0.0.01 # Mixed hex/dec/oct
000000000017700000001 # Have as many leading zeros as you want
0x0000000000007F000001 # Same as above
127.1
127.0.1

These are rejected.

256.0.0.1
192.168.1.099 # 099 is not a valid number
4294967296 # UINT32_MAX + 1
0x100000000
020000000000

Answer 15

With subnet mask :

^$|([01]?\\d\\d?|2[0-4]\\d|25[0-5])\\
.([01]?\\d\\d?|2[0-4]\\d|25[0-5])\\
.([01]?\\d\\d?|2[0-4]\\d|25[0-5])\\
.([01]?\\d\\d?|2[0-4]\\d|25[0-5])
((/([01]?\\d\\d?|2[0-4]\\d|25[0-5]))?)$

Answer 16

(((25[0-5])|(2[0-4]\d)|(1\d{2})|(\d{1,2}))\.){3}(((25[0-5])|(2[0-4]\d)|(1\d{2})|(\d{1,2})))

Test to find matches in text, https://regex101.com/r/9CcMEN/2

Following are the rules defining the valid combinations in each number of an IP address:

• Any one- or two-digit number.

• Any three-digit number beginning with 1.

• Any three-digit number beginning with 2 if the second digit is 0 through 4.

• Any three-digit number beginning with 25 if the third digit is 0 through 5.

Let'start with (((25[0-5])|(2[0-4]\d)|(1\d{2})|(\d{1,2}))\.), a set of four nested subexpressions, and we’ll look at them in reverse order. (\d{1,2}) matches any one- or two-digit number or numbers 0 through 99. (1\d{2}) matches any three-digit number starting with 1 (1 followed by any two digits), or numbers 100 through 199. (2[0-4]\d) matches numbers 200 through 249. (25[0-5]) matches numbers 250 through 255. Each of these subexpressions is enclosed within another subexpression with an | between each (so that one of the four subexpressions has to match, not all). After the range of numbers comes \. to match ., and then the entire series (all the number options plus \.) is enclosed into yet another subexpression and repeated three times using {3}. Finally, the range of numbers is repeated (this time without the trailing \.) to match the final IP address number. By restricting each of the four numbers to values between 0 and 255, this pattern can indeed match valid IP addresses and reject invalid addresses.

Excerpt From: Ben Forta. “Learning Regular Expressions.”

---

If neither a character is wanted at the beginning of IP address nor at the end, ^ and $ metacharacters ought to be used, respectively.

^(((25[0-5])|(2[0-4]\d)|(1\d{2})|(\d{1,2}))\.){3}(((25[0-5])|(2[0-4]\d)|(1\d{2})|(\d{1,2})))$

Test to find matches in text, https://regex101.com/r/uAP31A/1

Answer 17

I tried to make it a bit simpler and shorter.

^(([01]?\d{1,2}|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])\.){3}([01]?\d{1,2}|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])$

If you are looking for java/kotlin:

^(([01]?\\d{1,2}|2[0-4]\\d|25[0-5])\\.){3}([01]?\\d{1,2}|2[0-4]\\d|25[0-5])$

If someone wants to know how it works here is the explanation. It's really so simple. Just give it a try :p :

 1. ^.....$: '^' is the starting and '$' is the ending.

 2. (): These are called a group. You can think of like "if" condition groups.

 3. |: 'Or' condition - as same as most of the programming languages.

 4. [01]?\d{1,2}: '[01]' indicates one of the number between 0 and 1. '?' means '[01]' is optional. '\d' is for any digit between 0-9 and '{1,2}' indicates the length can be between 1 and 2. So here the number can be 0-199.

 5. 2[0-4]\d: '2' is just plain 2. '[0-4]' means a number between 0 to 4. '\d' is for any digit between 0-9. So here the number can be 200-249.

 6. 25[0-5]: '25' is just plain 25. '[0-5]' means a number between 0 to 5. So here the number can be 250-255.

 7. \.: It's just plan '.'(dot) for separating the numbers.

 8. {3}: It means the exact 3 repetition of the previous group inside '()'.

 9. ([01]?\d{1,2}|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5]): Totally same as point 2-6

Mathematically it is like:

(0-199 OR 200-249 OR 250-255).{Repeat exactly 3 times}(0-199 OR 200-249 OR 250-255)

So, as you can see normally this is the pattern for the IP addresses. I hope it helps to understand Regular Expression a bit. :p

Answer 18

I tried to make it a bit simpler and shorter.

^(([01]?\d{1,2}|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5]).){3}([01]?\d{1,2}|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])$

If you are looking for java/kotlin:

^(([01]?\d{1,2}|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])\.){3}([01]?\d{1,2}|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])$

If someone wants to know how it works here is the explanation. It's really so simple. Just give it a try :p :

 1. ^.....$: '^' is the starting and '$' is the ending.

 2. (): These are called a group. You can think of like "if" condition groups.

 3. |: 'Or' condition - as same as most of the programming languages.

 4. [01]?\d{1,2}: '[01]' indicates one of the number between 0 and 1. '?' means '[01]' is optional. '\d' is for any digit between 0-9 and '{1,2}' indicates the length can be between 1 and 2. So here the number can be 0-199.

 5. 2[0-4]\d: '2' is just plain 2. '[0-4]' means a number between 0 to 4. '\d' is for any digit between 0-9. So here the number can be 200-249.

 6. 25[0-5]: '25' is just plain 25. '[0-5]' means a number between 0 to 5. So here the number can be 250-255.

 7. \.: It's just plan '.'(dot) for separating the numbers.

 8. {3}: It means the exact 3 repetition of the previous group inside '()'.

 9. ([01]?\d{1,2}|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5]): Totally same as point 2-6

Mathematically it is like:

(0-199 OR 200-249 OR 250-255).{Repeat exactly 3 times}(0-199 OR 200-249 OR 250-255)

So, as you can see normally this is the pattern for the IP addresses. I hope it helps to understand Regular Expression a bit. :p

Answer 19

    const char*ipv4_regexp = "\\b(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\\."
    "(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\\."
    "(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\\."
    "(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\\b";

I adapted the regular expression taken from JGsoft RegexBuddy library to C language (regcomp/regexec) and I found out it works but there's a little problem in some OS like Linux. That regular expression accepts ipv4 address like 192.168.100.009 where 009 in Linux is considered an octal value so the address is not the one you thought. I changed that regular expression as follow:

    const char* ipv4_regex = "\\b(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[0-9])\\."
           "(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[0-9])\\."
           "(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[0-9])\\."
           "(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[0-9])\\b";

using that regular expressione now 192.168.100.009 is not a valid ipv4 address while 192.168.100.9 is ok.

I modified a regular expression for multicast address too and it is the following:

    const char* mcast_ipv4_regex = "\\b(22[4-9]|23[0-9])\\."
                        "(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[0-9])\\."
                        "(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[0-9]?)\\."
                        "(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[0-9])\\b";

I think you have to adapt the regular expression to the language you're using to develop your application

I put an example in java:

    package utility;

    import java.util.regex.Matcher;
    import java.util.regex.Pattern;

    public class NetworkUtility {

        private static String ipv4RegExp = "\\b(?:(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4]\\d|1\\d\\d|[1-9]?\\d?)\\.){3}(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4]\\d|1\\d\\d|[1-9]?\\d?)\\b";

        private static String ipv4MulticastRegExp = "2(?:2[4-9]|3\\d)(?:\\.(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4]\\d|1\\d\\d|[1-9]\\d?|0)){3}";

        public NetworkUtility() {

        }

        public static boolean isIpv4Address(String address) {
            Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(ipv4RegExp);
            Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(address);

            return matcher.matches();
        }

        public static boolean isIpv4MulticastAddress(String address) {
             Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(ipv4MulticastRegExp);
             Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(address);

             return matcher.matches();
        }
    }

Answer 20

-bash-3.2$ echo "191.191.191.39" | egrep 
  '(^|[^0-9])((2([6-9]|5[0-5]?|[0-4][0-9]?)?|1([0-9][0-9]?)?|[3-9][0-9]?|0)\.{3}
     (2([6-9]|5[0-5]?|[0-4][0-9]?)?|1([0-9][0-9]?)?|[3-9][0-9]?|0)($|[^0-9])'

>> 191.191.191.39

(This is a DFA that matches the entire addr space (including broadcasts, etc.) an nothing else.

Answer 21

I think this one is the shortest.

^(([01]?\d\d?|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5]).){3}([01]?\d\d?|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])$

Answer 22

I found this sample very useful, furthermore it allows different ipv4 notations.

sample code using python:

    def is_valid_ipv4(ip4):
    """Validates IPv4 addresses.
    """
    import re
    pattern = re.compile(r"""
        ^
        (?:
          # Dotted variants:
          (?:
            # Decimal 1-255 (no leading 0's)
            [3-9]\d?|2(?:5[0-5]|[0-4]?\d)?|1\d{0,2}
          |
            0x0*[0-9a-f]{1,2}  # Hexadecimal 0x0 - 0xFF (possible leading 0's)
          |
            0+[1-3]?[0-7]{0,2} # Octal 0 - 0377 (possible leading 0's)
          )
          (?:                  # Repeat 0-3 times, separated by a dot
            \.
            (?:
              [3-9]\d?|2(?:5[0-5]|[0-4]?\d)?|1\d{0,2}
            |
              0x0*[0-9a-f]{1,2}
            |
              0+[1-3]?[0-7]{0,2}
            )
          ){0,3}
        |
          0x0*[0-9a-f]{1,8}    # Hexadecimal notation, 0x0 - 0xffffffff
        |
          0+[0-3]?[0-7]{0,10}  # Octal notation, 0 - 037777777777
        |
          # Decimal notation, 1-4294967295:
          429496729[0-5]|42949672[0-8]\d|4294967[01]\d\d|429496[0-6]\d{3}|
          42949[0-5]\d{4}|4294[0-8]\d{5}|429[0-3]\d{6}|42[0-8]\d{7}|
          4[01]\d{8}|[1-3]\d{0,9}|[4-9]\d{0,8}
        )
        $
    """, re.VERBOSE | re.IGNORECASE)
    return pattern.match(ip4) <> None

Answer 23

((\.|^)(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]?|0$)){4}

This regex will not accept 08.8.8.8 or 8.08.8.8 or 8.8.08.8 or 8.8.8.08

Answer 24

Finds a valid IP addresses as long as the IP is wrapped around any character other than digits (behind or ahead the IP). 4 Backreferences created: $+{first}.$+{second}.$+{third}.$+{forth}

Find String:
#any valid IP address
(?<IP>(?<![\d])(?<first>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))[\.](?<second>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))[\.](?<third>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))[\.](?<forth>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))(?![\d]))
#only valid private IP address RFC1918
(?<IP>(?<![\d])(:?(:?(?<first>10)[\.](?<second>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5])))|(:?(?<first>172)[\.](?<second>(:?1[6-9])|(:?2[0-9])|(:?3[0-1])))|(:?(?<first>192)[\.](?<second>168)))[\.](?<third>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))[\.](?<forth>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))(?![\d]))

Notepad++ Replace String Option 1: Replaces the whole IP (NO Change):
$+{IP}

Notepad++ Replace String Option 2: Replaces the whole IP octect by octect (NO Change)
$+{first}.$+{second}.$+{third}.$+{forth}

Notepad++ Replace String Option 3: Replaces the whole IP octect by octect (replace 3rd octect value with 0)
$+{first}.$+{second}.0.$+{forth}
NOTE: The above will match any valid IP including 255.255.255.255 for example and change it to 255.255.0.255 which is wrong and not very useful of course.

Replacing portion of each octect with an actual value however you can build your own find and replace which is actual useful to ammend IPs in text files:

for example replace the first octect group of the original Find regex above:
(?<first>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))
with
(?<first>10)

and
(?<second>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))
with
(?<second>216)
and you are now matching addresses starting with first octect 192 only

Find on notepad++:
(?<IP>(?<![\d])(?<first>10)[\.](?<second>216)[\.](?<third>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))[\.](?<forth>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))(?![\d]))

You could still perform Replace using back-referece groups in the exact same fashion as before.

You can get an idea of how the above matched below:

cat ipv4_validation_test.txt
Full Match:
0.0.0.1
12.108.1.34
192.168.1.1
10.249.24.212
10.216.1.212
192.168.1.255
255.255.255.255
0.0.0.0


Partial Match (IP Extraction from line)
30.168.1.0.1
-1.2.3.4
sfds10.216.24.23kgfd
da11.15.112.255adfdsfds
sfds10.216.24.23kgfd


NO Match
1.1.1.01
3...3
127.1.
192.168.1..
192.168.1.256
da11.15.112.2554adfdsfds
da311.15.112.255adfdsfds

Using grep you can see the results below:

From grep:
grep -oP '(?<IP>(?<![\d])(?<first>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))[\.](?<second>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))[\.](?<third>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))[\.](?<forth>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))(?![\d]))' ipv4_validation_test.txt
0.0.0.1
12.108.1.34
192.168.1.1
10.249.24.212
10.216.1.212
192.168.1.255
255.255.255.255
0.0.0.0
30.168.1.0
1.2.3.4
10.216.24.23
11.15.112.255
10.216.24.23


grep -P '(?<IP>(?<![\d])(?<first>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))[\.](?<second>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))[\.](?<third>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))[\.](?<forth>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))(?![\d]))' ipv4_validation_test.txt
0.0.0.1
12.108.1.34
192.168.1.1
10.249.24.212
10.216.1.212
192.168.1.255
255.255.255.255
0.0.0.0
30.168.1.0.1
-1.2.3.4
sfds10.216.24.23kgfd
da11.15.112.255adfdsfds
sfds10.216.24.23kgfd


#matching ip addresses starting with 10.216
grep -oP '(?<IP>(?<![\d])(?<first>10)[\.](?<second>216)[\.](?<third>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))[\.](?<forth>(:?\d)|(:?[1-9]\d)|(:?1\d{2})|(:?2[0-4]\d)|(:?25[0-5]))(?![\d]))' ipv4_validation_test.txt
10.216.1.212
10.216.24.23
10.216.24.23

Answer 25

^((25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)(\\.)){3}+((25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?))$

---

Above will be regex for the ip address like: 221.234.000.112 also for 221.234.0.112, 221.24.03.112, 221.234.0.1

---

You can imagine all kind of address as above

Answer 26

I would use PCRE and the define keyword:

/^
 ((?&byte))\.((?&byte))\.((?&byte))\.((?&byte))$
 (?(DEFINE)
     (?<byte>25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|[01]?\d\d?))
/gmx

Demo: https://regex101.com/r/IB7j48/2

The reason of this is to avoid repeating the (25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?) pattern four times. Other solutions such as the one below work well, but it does not capture each group as it would be requested by many.

/^((\d+?)(\.|$)){4}/ 

The only other way to have 4 capture groups is to repeat the pattern four times:

/^(?<one>\d+)\.(?<two>\d+)\.(?<three>\d+)\.(?<four>\d+)$/

Capturing a ipv4 in perl is therefore very easy

$ echo "Hey this is my IP address 138.131.254.8, bye!" | \
  perl -ne 'print "[$1, $2, $3, $4]" if \
    /\b((?&byte))\.((?&byte))\.((?&byte))\.((?&byte))
     (?(DEFINE)
        \b(?<byte>25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?))
    /x'

[138, 131, 254, 8]

Answer 27

The most precise, straightforward and compact IPv4 regexp I can imagine is

^(25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]?\d)\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]?\d)\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]?\d)\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]?\d)$

But what about the performance/efficiency of ... Sorry I don't know, who cares?

Answer 28

Try this:

\b(([1-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|2[0-5][0-5])\.([1-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|2[0-5][0-5])\.([1-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|2[0-5][0-5])\.(2[0-5][0-5]|1[0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[1-9]))\b

Answer 29

ip address can be from 0.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255

(((0|1)?[0-9][0-9]?|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])[.]){3}((0|1)?[0-9][0-9]?|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])$

(0|1)?[0-9][0-9]? - checking value from 0 to 199
2[0-4][0-9]- checking value from 200 to 249
25[0-5]- checking value from 250 to 255
[.] --> represent verify . character 
{3} --> will match exactly 3
$ --> end of string

Answer 30

Following is the regex expression to validate the IP-Address.

^((25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\\.){3}(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)$