The InetPton function converts an IPv4 or IPv6 Internet network address in its standard text presentation form into its numeric binary form. The ANSI version of this function is inet_pton.

Syntax

INT WSAAPI InetPton(
  _In_  INT     Family,
  _In_  PCTSTR pszAddrString,
  _Out_ PVOID  pAddrBuf
);

Parameters

Family [in]

The address family.

Possible values for the address family are defined in the Ws2def.h header file. Note that the Ws2def.h header file is automatically included inWinsock2.h, and should never be used directly. Note that the values for the AF_ address family and PF_ protocol family constants are identical (for example, AF_INET and PF_INET), so either constant can be used.

The values currently supported are AF_INET and AF_INET6.

Value	Meaning
AF_INET 2	The Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) address family. When this parameter is specified, the pszAddrString parameter must point to a text representation of an IPv4 address and the pAddrBuf parameter returns a pointer to an IN_ADDR structure that represents the IPv4 address.
AF_INET6 23	The Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) address family. When this parameter is specified, the pszAddrString parameter must point to a text representation of an IPv6 address and the pAddrBuf parameter returns a pointer to an IN6_ADDR structure that represents the IPv6 address.

 

pszAddrString [in]

A pointer to the NULL-terminated string that contains the text representation of the IP address to convert to numeric binary form.

When the Family parameter is AF_INET, then the pszAddrString parameter must point to a text representation of an IPv4 address in standard dotted-decimal notation.

When the Family parameter is AF_INET6, then the pszAddrString parameter must point to a text representation of an IPv6 address in standard notation.

pAddrBuf [out]

A pointer to a buffer in which to store the numeric binary representation of the IP address. The IP address is returned in network byte order.

When the Family parameter is AF_INET, this buffer should be large enough to hold an IN_ADDR structure.

When the Family parameter is AF_INET6, this buffer should be large enough to hold an IN6_ADDR structure.

Return value

If no error occurs, the InetPton function returns a value of 1 and the buffer pointed to by the pAddrBuf parameter contains the binary numeric IP address in network byte order.

The InetPton function returns a value of 0 if the pAddrBuf parameter points to a string that is not a valid IPv4 dotted-decimal string or a valid IPv6 address string. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned, and a specific error code can be retrieved by calling the WSAGetLastError for extended error information.

If the function has an error, the extended error code returned by WSAGetLastError can be one of the following values.

Remarks

The InetPton function is supported on Windows Vista and later.

The InetPton function provides a protocol-independent conversion of an Internet network address in its standard text presentation form into its numeric binary form. The InetPton function takes a text representation of an Internet address pointed to by the pszAddrString parameter and returns a pointer to the numeric binary IP address in the pAddrBuf parameter. While the inet_addr function works only with IPv4 address strings, the InetPtonfunction works with either IPv4 or IPv6 address strings.

The ANSI version of this function is inet_pton as defined in RFC 2553. For more information, see RFC 2553 available at the IETF website.

The InetPton function does not require that the Windows Sockets DLL be loaded to perform conversion of a text string that represents an IP address to a numeric binary IP address.

If the Family parameter specified is AF_INET, then the pszAddrString parameter must point a text string of an IPv4 address in dotted-decimal notation as in "192.168.16.0", an example of an IPv4 address in dotted-decimal notation.

If the Family parameter specified is AF_INET6, then the pszAddrString parameter must point a text string of an IPv6 address in Internet standard format. The basic string representation consists of 8 hexadecimal numbers separated by colons. A string of consecutive zero numbers may be replaced with a double-colon. There can only be one double-colon in the string representation of the IPv6 address. The last 32 bits may be represented in IPv4-style dotted-octet notation if the address is a IPv4-compatible address.

When UNICODE or _UNICODE is defined, InetPton is defined to InetPtonW, the Unicode version of this function. The pszAddrString parameter is defined to the PCWSTR data type.

When UNICODE or _UNICODE is not defined, InetPton is defined to InetPtonA, the ANSI version of this function. The ANSI version of this function is always defined as inet_pton. The pszAddrString parameter is defined to the PCSTR data type.

The IN_ADDR structure is defined in the Inaddr.h header file. The IN6_ADDR structure is defined in the In6addr.h header file.

On Windows Vista and later, the RtlIpv4StringToAddress and RtlIpv4StringToAddressEx functions can be used to convert a text representation of an IPv4 address in Internet standard dotted-decimal notation to a numeric binary address represented as an IN_ADDR structure. On Windows Vista and later, the RtlIpv6StringToAddress and RtlIpv6StringToAddressEx functions can be used to convert a string representation of an IPv6 address to a numeric binary IPv6 address represented as an IN6_ADDR structure. The RtlIpv6StringToAddressEx function is more flexible since it also converts a string representation of an IPv6 address that can include a scope ID and port in standard notation to a numeric binary form.

Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2: The InetPtonW function is supported for Windows Store apps on Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, and later.

Requirements