Finding local IP addresses using Python's stdlib

Question

How can I find local IP addresses (i.e. 192.168.x.x or 10.0.x.x) in Python platform independently and using only the standard library?

Answer 1

On Debian (tested) and I suspect most Linux's..

import commands

RetMyIP = commands.getoutput("hostname -I")

On MS Windows (tested)

import socket

socket.gethostbyname(socket.gethostname())

Answer 2

import socket
socket.gethostbyname(socket.gethostname())

This won't work always (returns 127.0.0.1 on machines having the hostname in /etc/hosts as 127.0.0.1), a paliative would be what gimel shows, use socket.getfqdn() instead. Of course your machine needs a resolvable hostname.

Answer 3

This answer is my personal attempt to solve the problem of getting the LAN IP, since socket.gethostbyname(socket.gethostname()) also returned 127.0.0.1. This method does not require Internet just a LAN connection. Code is for Python 3.x but could easily be converted for 2.x. Using UDP Broadcast:

import select
import socket
import threading
from queue import Queue, Empty

def get_local_ip():
        def udp_listening_server():
            s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
            s.bind(('<broadcast>', 8888))
            s.setblocking(0)
            while True:
                result = select.select([s],[],[])
                msg, address = result[0][0].recvfrom(1024)
                msg = str(msg, 'UTF-8')
                if msg == 'What is my LAN IP address?':
                    break
            queue.put(address)

        queue = Queue()
        thread = threading.Thread(target=udp_listening_server)
        thread.queue = queue
        thread.start()
        s2 = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
        s2.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_BROADCAST, 1)
        waiting = True
        while waiting:
            s2.sendto(bytes('What is my LAN IP address?', 'UTF-8'), ('<broadcast>', 8888))
            try:
                address = queue.get(False)
            except Empty:
                pass
            else:
                waiting = False
        return address[0]

if __name__ == '__main__':
    print(get_local_ip())

Answer 4

Variation on ninjagecko's answer. This should work on any LAN that allows UDP broadcast and doesn't require access to an address on the LAN or internet.

import socket
def getNetworkIp():
    s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
    s.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_BROADCAST, 1)
    s.connect(('<broadcast>', 0))
    return s.getsockname()[0]

print (getNetworkIp())

Answer 5

If you don't want to use external packages and don't want to rely on outside Internet servers, this might help. It's a code sample that I found on Google Code Search and modified to return required information:

def getIPAddresses():
    from ctypes import Structure, windll, sizeof
    from ctypes import POINTER, byref
    from ctypes import c_ulong, c_uint, c_ubyte, c_char
    MAX_ADAPTER_DESCRIPTION_LENGTH = 128
    MAX_ADAPTER_NAME_LENGTH = 256
    MAX_ADAPTER_ADDRESS_LENGTH = 8
    class IP_ADDR_STRING(Structure):
        pass
    LP_IP_ADDR_STRING = POINTER(IP_ADDR_STRING)
    IP_ADDR_STRING._fields_ = [
        ("next", LP_IP_ADDR_STRING),
        ("ipAddress", c_char * 16),
        ("ipMask", c_char * 16),
        ("context", c_ulong)]
    class IP_ADAPTER_INFO (Structure):
        pass
    LP_IP_ADAPTER_INFO = POINTER(IP_ADAPTER_INFO)
    IP_ADAPTER_INFO._fields_ = [
        ("next", LP_IP_ADAPTER_INFO),
        ("comboIndex", c_ulong),
        ("adapterName", c_char * (MAX_ADAPTER_NAME_LENGTH + 4)),
        ("description", c_char * (MAX_ADAPTER_DESCRIPTION_LENGTH + 4)),
        ("addressLength", c_uint),
        ("address", c_ubyte * MAX_ADAPTER_ADDRESS_LENGTH),
        ("index", c_ulong),
        ("type", c_uint),
        ("dhcpEnabled", c_uint),
        ("currentIpAddress", LP_IP_ADDR_STRING),
        ("ipAddressList", IP_ADDR_STRING),
        ("gatewayList", IP_ADDR_STRING),
        ("dhcpServer", IP_ADDR_STRING),
        ("haveWins", c_uint),
        ("primaryWinsServer", IP_ADDR_STRING),
        ("secondaryWinsServer", IP_ADDR_STRING),
        ("leaseObtained", c_ulong),
        ("leaseExpires", c_ulong)]
    GetAdaptersInfo = windll.iphlpapi.GetAdaptersInfo
    GetAdaptersInfo.restype = c_ulong
    GetAdaptersInfo.argtypes = [LP_IP_ADAPTER_INFO, POINTER(c_ulong)]
    adapterList = (IP_ADAPTER_INFO * 10)()
    buflen = c_ulong(sizeof(adapterList))
    rc = GetAdaptersInfo(byref(adapterList[0]), byref(buflen))
    if rc == 0:
        for a in adapterList:
            adNode = a.ipAddressList
            while True:
                ipAddr = adNode.ipAddress
                if ipAddr:
                    yield ipAddr
                adNode = adNode.next
                if not adNode:
                    break

Usage:

>>> for addr in getIPAddresses():
>>>    print addr
192.168.0.100
10.5.9.207

As it relies on windll, this will work only on Windows.

Answer 6

I'm afraid there aren't any good platform independent ways to do this other than connecting to another computer and having it send you your IP address. For example: findmyipaddress. Note that this won't work if you need an IP address that's behind NAT unless the computer you're connecting to is behind NAT as well.

Here's one solution that works in Linux: get the IP address associated with a network interface.