python - Using a RegEx to match IP addresses

Question

I'm trying to make a test for checking whether a sys.argv input matches the RegEx for an IP address...

As a simple test, I have the following...

import re

pat = re.compile("d{1,3}.d{1,3}.d{1,3}.d{1,3}")
test = pat.match(hostIP)
if test:
   print "Acceptable ip address"
else:
   print "Unacceptable ip address"

However when I pass random values into it, it returns "Acceptable IP address" in most cases, except when I have an "address" that is basically equivalent to d+.

Answer 1

Using regex to validate IP address is a bad idea - this will pass 999.999.999.999 as valid. Try this approach using socket instead - much better validation and just as easy, if not easier to do.

import socket

def valid_ip(address):
    try: 
        socket.inet_aton(address)
        return True
    except:
        return False

print valid_ip('10.10.20.30')
print valid_ip('999.10.20.30')
print valid_ip('gibberish')

If you really want to use parse-the-host approach instead, this code will do it exactly:

def valid_ip(address):
    try:
        host_bytes = address.split('.')
        valid = [int(b) for b in host_bytes]
        valid = [b for b in valid if b >= 0 and b<=255]
        return len(host_bytes) == 4 and len(valid) == 4
    except:
        return False