parse_ipv4

This page explains how to use the parse_ipv4 function in APL.

The parse_ipv4 function in APL converts an IPv4 address and represents it as a long number. You can use this function to convert an IPv4 address for advanced analysis, filtering, or comparisons. It is especially useful for tasks like analyzing network traffic logs, identifying trends in IP address usage, or performing security-related queries.

For users of other query languages

If you come from other query languages, this section explains how to adjust your existing queries to achieve the same results in APL.

Splunk SPL users

Splunk does not provide a direct function for converting an IPv4 address into a long number. However, you can achieve similar functionality using custom SPL expressions.

Splunk example

| eval ip_int = tonumber(replace(ip, "\\.", ""))

ANSI SQL users

SQL does not have a built-in function equivalent to parse_ipv4, but you can use bitwise operations to achieve a similar result.

SQL example

SELECT
  (CAST(SPLIT_PART(ip, '.', 1) AS INT) << 24) +
  (CAST(SPLIT_PART(ip, '.', 2) AS INT) << 16) +
  (CAST(SPLIT_PART(ip, '.', 3) AS INT) << 8) +
  CAST(SPLIT_PART(ip, '.', 4) AS INT) AS ip_int
FROM logs;

Usage

Syntax

parse_ipv4(ipv4_address)

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
ipv4_address	string	The IPv4 address to parse into a long number.

Returns

The function returns the IPv4 address as a long number if the conversion succeeds. If the conversion fails, the function returns null.

Use case example

You can use the parse_ipv4 function to analyze web traffic by representing IP addresses as long numbers.

Query

['sample-http-logs']
| extend ip_long = parse_ipv4('192.168.1.1')

Run in Playground

Output

_time	uri	method	ip_long
2024-11-14T10:00:00	/index.html	GET	3,232,235,777

List of related functions

• has_any_ipv4: Matches any IP address in a string column with a list of IP addresses or ranges.
• has_ipv4_prefix: Checks if an IPv4 address matches a single prefix.
• has_ipv4: Checks if a single IP address is present in a string column.
• ipv4_compare: Compares two IPv4 addresses lexicographically. Use for sorting or range evaluations.
• ipv4_is_in_range: Checks if an IP address is within a specified range.
• ipv4_is_private: Checks if an IPv4 address is within private IP ranges.