Parsing an IP Address from a String using static method

Question

Is there a static method I can use to parse a String to check if it is an IP address, instead of having to initialize a new System.Net.IPAddress instance?

This is what I am trying to achieve

System.Net.IPAddress throwawayIpAddress = new System.Net.IPAddress(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("127.0.0.1"));

System.Net.IPAddress.TryParse(baseUri.Host, out throwawayIpAddress);

baseUri is a Uri variable, and Host is a string. I am looking for something simpler such as:

System.Net.IPAddress.TryParse(baseUri.Host, out  new System.Net.IPAddress(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("127.0.0.1"));

Due to the fact that the TryParse() method expects a String and an out IPAddress reference, I cannot pass null or a throwaway object directly.

Appreciate your advice on a simpler way to parse a String to test if it is an IP Address.

Answer 1

IPAddress.TryParse expects and out parameters. That parameter doesn't have to be initialized. For your code it can be:

System.Net.IPAddress throwawayIpAddress; //No need to initialize it
if(System.Net.IPAddress.TryParse(baseUri.Host, out throwawayIpAddress))
{
//valid IP address
}
{
//Invalid IP address
}

If the parsing is successful then your object throwawayIpAddress will have the valid IP address, you can use it further in the code or ignore it if you want.

Answer 2

public static bool IsValidIpAddress(this string s)
{
    IPAddress dummy;
    return IPAddress.TryParse(s, out dummy);
}

Answer 3

you can use regex

var isValidIP = Regex.IsMatch(stringValue, @"^((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]?)$")