Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
Address Prefix Syntax

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Address Prefix Syntax IP address prefixes are patterns which match the first n binary bits of an IP address.

The standard syntax is to write the prefix bits that must match in dotted-quad format, followed by a slash and then the number of bits in the prefix. Any trailing bits, not part of the prefix, are written as zero. If an entire trailing byte is zero, it can be written explicitly, as in 128.8.0.0/16, or omitted, as in 128.8/16. Since only the first sixteen bits are significant (in this example), it would be meaningless to specify the remaining sixteen bits, so there's no ambiguity in omitting them.


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Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
Address Prefix Syntax