java.net
Class InterfaceAddress

java.lang.Object
  java.net.InterfaceAddress

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.

Since:

1.6

See Also:

NetworkInterface

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 brodcast 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.

 

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, finalize, getClass, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

 

Method Detail

getAddress

public InetAddress getAddress()

Returns an InetAddress for this address.

Returns:

the InetAddress for this address.

getBroadcast

public InetAddress getBroadcast()

Returns an InetAddress for the brodcast 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.

getNetworkPrefixLength

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.

equals

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.

Overrides:

equals in class Object

Parameters:

obj - the object to compare against.

Returns:

true if the objects are the same; false otherwise.

See Also:

hashCode()

hashCode

public int hashCode()

Returns a hashcode for this Interface address.

Overrides:

hashCode in class Object

Returns:

a hash code value for this Interface address.

See Also:

Object.equals(java.lang.Object), Hashtable

toString

public String toString()

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

Overrides:

toString in class Object

Returns:

a string representation of this Interface address.