InterfaceAddress

AI-generated Key Takeaways

• The InterfaceAddress class in Java represents a network interface address, including IP address, subnet mask (or network prefix length), and broadcast address (for IPv4).

• It provides methods to retrieve the IP address (getAddress()), broadcast address (getBroadcast()), and network prefix length (getNetworkPrefixLength()).

• The equals() method compares two InterfaceAddress instances based on their IP address, prefix length, and broadcast address.

• The toString() method provides a string representation of the interface address in the format: "InetAddress/prefix length[broadcast address]".

• For IPv6 addresses, the broadcast address is typically null, as IPv6 networks generally do not utilize broadcast addresses.

public class InterfaceAddress extends Object

This class represents a Network Interface address. In short it's an IP address, a subnet mask and a broadcast address when the address is an IPv4 one. An IP address and a network prefix length in the case of IPv6 address.

See Also

• NetworkInterface

Public Method Summary

boolean	equals(Object obj) Compares this object against the specified object.
InetAddress	getAddress() Returns an InetAddress for this address.
InetAddress	getBroadcast() Returns an InetAddress for the broadcast address for this InterfaceAddress.
short	getNetworkPrefixLength() Returns the network prefix length for this address.
int	hashCode() Returns a hashcode for this Interface address.
String	toString() Converts this Interface address to a String.

Inherited Method Summary

From class java.lang.Object

Object	clone() Creates and returns a copy of this Object.
boolean	equals(Object obj) Compares this instance with the specified object and indicates if they are equal.
void	finalize() Invoked when the garbage collector has detected that this instance is no longer reachable.
final Class<?>	getClass() Returns the unique instance of Class that represents this object's class.
int	hashCode() Returns an integer hash code for this object.
final void	notify() Causes a thread which is waiting on this object's monitor (by means of calling one of the wait() methods) to be woken up.
final void	notifyAll() Causes all threads which are waiting on this object's monitor (by means of calling one of the wait() methods) to be woken up.
String	toString() Returns a string containing a concise, human-readable description of this object.
final void	wait(long timeout, int nanos) Causes the calling thread to wait until another thread calls the notify() or notifyAll() method of this object or until the specified timeout expires.
final void	wait(long timeout) Causes the calling thread to wait until another thread calls the notify() or notifyAll() method of this object or until the specified timeout expires.
final void	wait() Causes the calling thread to wait until another thread calls the notify() or notifyAll() method of this object.

Public Methods

public boolean equals (Object obj)

Compares this object against the specified object. The result is true if and only if the argument is not null and it represents the same interface address as this object.

Two instances of InterfaceAddress represent the same address if the InetAddress, the prefix length and the broadcast are the same for both.

Parameters

obj	the object to compare against.

Returns

• true if the objects are the same; false otherwise.

See Also

• hashCode()

public InetAddress getAddress ()

Returns an InetAddress for this address.

Returns

• the InetAddress for this address.

public InetAddress getBroadcast ()

Returns an InetAddress for the broadcast address for this InterfaceAddress.

Only IPv4 networks have broadcast address therefore, in the case of an IPv6 network, null will be returned.

Returns

• the InetAddress representing the broadcast address or null if there is no broadcast address.

public short getNetworkPrefixLength ()

Returns the network prefix length for this address. This is also known as the subnet mask in the context of IPv4 addresses. Typical IPv4 values would be 8 (255.0.0.0), 16 (255.255.0.0) or 24 (255.255.255.0).

Typical IPv6 values would be 128 (::1/128) or 10 (fe80::203:baff:fe27:1243/10)

Returns

• a short representing the prefix length for the subnet of that address.

public int hashCode ()

Returns a hashcode for this Interface address.

Returns

• a hash code value for this Interface address.

public String toString ()

Converts this Interface address to a String. The string returned is of the form: InetAddress / prefix length [ broadcast address ].

Returns

• a string representation of this Interface address.