c# - How to check a input IP fall in a specific IP range

Question

If we let users input a couple of ip ranges, e.g., 172.16.11.5 - 100, how could I write a function to check if a IP (172.16.11.50) falls in the ranges?

Is there any existing library in .NET to leverage?

Answer 1

There's nothing built into the framework, but it wouldn't take much effort to create an IPAddressRange class.

You'd compare the ranges by calling IPAddress.GetAddressBytes on the lower address, upper address and comparison address. Starting at the first byte, check if the comparison address is in the range of the upper/lower address.

This method works for both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

public class IPAddressRange
{
    readonly AddressFamily addressFamily;
    readonly byte[] lowerBytes;
    readonly byte[] upperBytes;

    public IPAddressRange(IPAddress lowerInclusive, IPAddress upperInclusive)
    {
        // Assert that lower.AddressFamily == upper.AddressFamily

        this.addressFamily = lowerInclusive.AddressFamily;
        this.lowerBytes = lowerInclusive.GetAddressBytes();
        this.upperBytes = upperInclusive.GetAddressBytes();
    }

    public bool IsInRange(IPAddress address)
    {
        if (address.AddressFamily != addressFamily)
        {
            return false;
        }

        byte[] addressBytes = address.GetAddressBytes();

        bool lowerBoundary = true, upperBoundary = true;

        for (int i = 0; i < this.lowerBytes.Length && 
            (lowerBoundary || upperBoundary); i++)
        {
            if ((lowerBoundary && addressBytes[i] < lowerBytes[i]) ||
                (upperBoundary && addressBytes[i] > upperBytes[i]))
            {
                return false;
            }

            lowerBoundary &= (addressBytes[i] == lowerBytes[i]);
            upperBoundary &= (addressBytes[i] == upperBytes[i]);
        }

        return true;
    }
}

NB: The above code could be extended to add public static factory methods FromCidr(IPAddress address, int bits)