Validating IPv4 addresses with regexp

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.

Solution 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'
    ^                                    ^

Solution 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

Solution 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 .

Solution 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