Short of parsing the output of ipconfig
, does anyone have a 100% pure java way of doing this?

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5 Answers
This is pretty easy:
try {
InetAddress localhost = InetAddress.getLocalHost();
LOG.info(" IP Addr: " + localhost.getHostAddress());
// Just in case this host has multiple IP addresses....
InetAddress[] allMyIps = InetAddress.getAllByName(localhost.getCanonicalHostName());
if (allMyIps != null && allMyIps.length > 1) {
LOG.info(" Full list of IP addresses:");
for (int i = 0; i < allMyIps.length; i++) {
LOG.info(" " + allMyIps[i]);
}
}
} catch (UnknownHostException e) {
LOG.info(" (error retrieving server host name)");
}
try {
LOG.info("Full list of Network Interfaces:");
for (Enumeration<NetworkInterface> en = NetworkInterface.getNetworkInterfaces(); en.hasMoreElements();) {
NetworkInterface intf = en.nextElement();
LOG.info(" " + intf.getName() + " " + intf.getDisplayName());
for (Enumeration<InetAddress> enumIpAddr = intf.getInetAddresses(); enumIpAddr.hasMoreElements(); ) {
LOG.info(" " + enumIpAddr.nextElement().toString());
}
}
} catch (SocketException e) {
LOG.info(" (error retrieving network interface list)");
}

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1Thanks for the example. There is a bug in it though(and in all other examples here), getNetworkInterfaces() can return null for some strange reason(please tell me why) if no network interfaces are found: 'Returns all the interfaces on this machine. Returns null if no network interfaces could be found on this machine. NOTE: can use getNetworkInterfaces()+getInetAddresses() to obtain all IP addresses for this node ' – Thirler Sep 21 '09 at 08:17
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1Version with LOG.infos replaced with System out calls and imports included here: https://gist.github.com/williamberg/5299998 – william.berg Apr 03 '13 at 10:17
Some of this will only work in JDK 1.6 and above (one of the methods was added in that release.)
List<InetAddress> addrList = new ArrayList<InetAddress>();
for(Enumeration<NetworkInterface> eni = NetworkInterface.getNetworkInterfaces(); eni.hasMoreElements(); ) {
final NetworkInterface ifc = eni.nextElement();
if(ifc.isUp()) {
for(Enumeration<InetAddress> ena = ifc.getInetAddresses(); ena.hasMoreElements(); ) {
addrList.add(ena.nextElement());
}
}
}
Prior to 1.6, it's a bit more difficult - isUp() isn't supported until then.
FWIW: The Javadocs note that this is the correct approach for getting all of the IP addresses for a node:
NOTE: can use getNetworkInterfaces()+getInetAddresses() to obtain all IP addresses for this node
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According to the JavaDoc, NetworkInterface and its methods were added in 1.4. I've personally been using code similar to what I posted since Java 5, so I haven't tested my code with Java 1.4 or earlier. – Eddie Jan 30 '09 at 04:55
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Actually, please edit your post to remove the erroneous comment "Prior to 1.6, there is no way to do this 100% pure java....parsing Runtime results or JNI would be your only options." as only the ifUp() method you used was added in 1.6. The rest is present since 1.4. – Eddie Jan 30 '09 at 04:59
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1The NetworkInterface class is present since 1.4, but the getInterfaceAddresses() and isUp() methods are both @since 1.6 (according to http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/net/NetworkInterface.html). 1.6 made the NetworkInterface class MUCH richer than it was in 1.5. – Jared Jan 30 '09 at 05:17
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errr, I see what you're saying.... getInetAddresses() is @since 1.4 (at least)... Editted to reflect some doubt while I figure things out :). – Jared Jan 30 '09 at 05:20
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But you are using *only* ifUp(). Your sample does not use getInterfaceAddresses(). Don't scare people off of using this code with Java 5 or Java 1.4! Yes, the Java 6 update added quite a lot to NetworkInterface. – Eddie Jan 30 '09 at 05:22
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I believe the other thing your code uses that is new to 1.6 is using an Enumeration with the Java 5 for/each loop. Sure makes it look cleaner! – Eddie Jan 30 '09 at 14:37
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13This doesn't compile in JDK 1.7. `getNetworkInterfaces` returns an `Enumeration` which does not implement `Iterable`. – Sam Skuce Jul 11 '12 at 19:58
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On JDK 1.7 turn the Enumeration into something iterable with `Collections.list()` – Leif Gruenwoldt May 21 '14 at 20:50
This code only works in Java 1.6 because of the added InterfaceAddress code.
try
{
System.out.println("Output of Network Interrogation:");
System.out.println("********************************\n");
InetAddress theLocalhost = InetAddress.getLocalHost();
System.out.println(" LOCALHOST INFO");
if(theLocalhost != null)
{
System.out.println(" host: " + theLocalhost.getHostName());
System.out.println(" class: " + theLocalhost.getClass().getSimpleName());
System.out.println(" ip: " + theLocalhost.getHostAddress());
System.out.println(" chost: " + theLocalhost.getCanonicalHostName());
System.out.println(" byteaddr: " + toMACAddrString(theLocalhost.getAddress()));
System.out.println(" sitelocal?: " + theLocalhost.isSiteLocalAddress());
System.out.println("");
}
else
{
System.out.println(" localhost was null");
}
Enumeration<NetworkInterface> theIntfList = NetworkInterface.getNetworkInterfaces();
List<InterfaceAddress> theAddrList = null;
NetworkInterface theIntf = null;
InetAddress theAddr = null;
while(theIntfList.hasMoreElements())
{
theIntf = theIntfList.nextElement();
System.out.println("--------------------");
System.out.println(" " + theIntf.getDisplayName());
System.out.println(" name: " + theIntf.getName());
System.out.println(" mac: " + toMACAddrString(theIntf.getHardwareAddress()));
System.out.println(" mtu: " + theIntf.getMTU());
System.out.println(" mcast?: " + theIntf.supportsMulticast());
System.out.println(" loopback?: " + theIntf.isLoopback());
System.out.println(" ptp?: " + theIntf.isPointToPoint());
System.out.println(" virtual?: " + theIntf.isVirtual());
System.out.println(" up?: " + theIntf.isUp());
theAddrList = theIntf.getInterfaceAddresses();
System.out.println(" int addrs: " + theAddrList.size() + " total.");
int addrindex = 0;
for(InterfaceAddress intAddr : theAddrList)
{
addrindex++;
theAddr = intAddr.getAddress();
System.out.println(" " + addrindex + ").");
System.out.println(" host: " + theAddr.getHostName());
System.out.println(" class: " + theAddr.getClass().getSimpleName());
System.out.println(" ip: " + theAddr.getHostAddress() + "/" + intAddr.getNetworkPrefixLength());
System.out.println(" bcast: " + intAddr.getBroadcast().getHostAddress());
int maskInt = Integer.MIN_VALUE >> (intAddr.getNetworkPrefixLength()-1);
System.out.println(" mask: " + toIPAddrString(maskInt));
System.out.println(" chost: " + theAddr.getCanonicalHostName());
System.out.println(" byteaddr: " + toMACAddrString(theAddr.getAddress()));
System.out.println(" sitelocal?: " + theAddr.isSiteLocalAddress());
System.out.println("");
}
}
}
catch (SocketException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
catch (UnknownHostException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
The "toMACAddrString" method looks like this:
public static String toMACAddrString(byte[] a)
{
if (a == null)
{
return "null";
}
int iMax = a.length - 1;
if (iMax == -1)
{
return "[]";
}
StringBuilder b = new StringBuilder();
b.append('[');
for (int i = 0;; i++)
{
b.append(String.format("%1$02x", a[i]));
if (i == iMax)
{
return b.append(']').toString();
}
b.append(":");
}
}
and the "toIPAddrString" method is here:
public static String toIPAddrString(int ipa)
{
StringBuilder b = new StringBuilder();
b.append(Integer.toString(0x000000ff & (ipa >> 24)));
b.append(".");
b.append(Integer.toString(0x000000ff & (ipa >> 16)));
b.append(".");
b.append(Integer.toString(0x000000ff & (ipa >> 8)));
b.append(".");
b.append(Integer.toString(0x000000ff & (ipa)));
return b.toString();
}
I have that first set of code in the try/catch above in a method called dump() in class called IPConfig. Then I just put a main method in IPConfig to call new IPConfig().dump() so that when I'm trying to figure out some wacky network problem, I can see Java thinks is going on. I figured out that my Fedora box reports different information than Windows for the LocalHost information and it was causing my Java programs some issues.
I realize its similiar to the other answers but it prints out nearly everything interesting that you can get from the interface and ipaddress apis.
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I've got very similar code in the startup procedure for my application. For some reason, RedHat and related linuxes really like to misconfigure the loopback address - I've had inumerable problems caused by 127.0.0.1 being mapped to the hostname rather than localhost on Redhat boxes. – Jared Jan 30 '09 at 15:25
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That's exactly what kept getting me down too. I ended up putting in code that chooses the first non-localhost interface with an IPv4 address and asking that for the hostname, or allowing the user to set a system property that picks the interface by name and set java.net.preferIPv4 – Jay R. Jan 30 '09 at 15:34
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It didn't solve the hostname problem necessarily, but it meant that I didn't have to depend on the hostname anymore. – Jay R. Jan 30 '09 at 15:35
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Update to fix Jared's answer for JDK 1.7.
// Get list of IP addresses from all local network interfaces. (JDK1.7)
// -----------------------------------------------------------
public List<InetAddress> getListOfIPsFromNIs(){
List<InetAddress> addrList = new ArrayList<InetAddress>();
Enumeration<NetworkInterface> enumNI = NetworkInterface.getNetworkInterfaces();
while ( enumNI.hasMoreElements() ){
NetworkInterface ifc = enumNI.nextElement();
if( ifc.isUp() ){
Enumeration<InetAddress> enumAdds = ifc.getInetAddresses();
while ( enumAdds.hasMoreElements() ){
InetAddress addr = enumAdds.nextElement();
addrList.add(addr);
System.out.println(addr.getHostAddress()); //<---print IP
}
}
}
return addrList;
}
As highlighted by Sam Skuce comment:
This doesn't compile in JDK 1.7. getNetworkInterfaces returns an Enumeration which does not implement Iterable. – Sam Skuce Jul 11 '12 at 19:58
Output Example:
fe80:0:0:0:800:aaaa:aaaa:0%8
192.168.56.1
fe80:0:0:0:227:aaa:aaaa:6b5%2
123.123.123.123
0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1%1
127.0.0.1
import java.net.*;
import java.util.*;
public class NIC {
public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception {
List<InetAddress> addrList = new ArrayList<InetAddress>();
Enumeration<NetworkInterface> interfaces = null;
try {
interfaces = NetworkInterface.getNetworkInterfaces();
} catch (SocketException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
InetAddress localhost = null;
try {
localhost = InetAddress.getByName("127.0.0.1");
} catch (UnknownHostException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
while (interfaces.hasMoreElements()) {
NetworkInterface ifc = interfaces.nextElement();
Enumeration<InetAddress> addressesOfAnInterface = ifc.getInetAddresses();
while (addressesOfAnInterface.hasMoreElements()) {
InetAddress address = addressesOfAnInterface.nextElement();
if (!address.equals(localhost) && !address.toString().contains(":")) {
addrList.add(address);
System.out.println("FOUND ADDRESS ON NIC: " + address.getHostAddress());
}
}
}
}
}

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