Question about getting an IP address in Genie

Question

I am a novice in Django and I got this code from a specialist, but I do not know how it works and how anyone can explain how it works?

def get_client_ip(request):
    x_forwarded_for = request.META.get('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR')
    if x_forwarded_for:
        ip = x_forwarded_for.split(',')[0]
    else:
        ip = request.META.get('REMOTE_ADDR')
    return ip

you would have to learn `HTTP` (HyperText Transfer Protocol) to understand it. — furas, Jul 17 '21 at 13:26
when client (i.e, web browser) sends request for some page on server then it adds extra information (HTTP headers) and one of them can be `REMOTE_ADDR` with `IP`. If request goes by `proxy server` then `proxy serve` may put its `IP` in `REMOTE_ADDR` and keep original `IP` in `HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR` — furas, Jul 17 '21 at 13:41

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 17 '21 at 16:31

I think it is important to mention that your code snippet is probably coming from this discussion. In case people want to read the whole answer.

Code followed by explanation:

def get_client_ip(request):

Start a function get_client_ip with input request.

x_forwarded_for = request.META.get('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR')

HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR is a field of the HTTP request header that you store in the variable x_forwarded_for.

if x_forwarded_for:
    ip = x_forwarded_for.split(',')[0]

The variable x_forwarded_for is a list of IP addresses separated by comma (example below).

203.0.113.195, 70.41.3.18, 150.172.238.178

As you are only interested in the first IP address you separate this string by comma .split(',') and only take the first object [0].

else:
    ip = request.META.get('REMOTE_ADDR')

If the variable x_forwarded_for is empty then you try to get the users IP address by taking the data from the REMOTE_ADDR field of the HTTP request header as this is your second best option.

return ip

At the end of the function you want to return the IP address so you can use it in your application.

Question about getting an IP address in Genie

1 Answers1