If you searched for “ip examples” because you want to understand what Internet Protocol addresses actually look like, this guide gives you safe, educational examples you can recognise and learn from. An IP address is a numerical label assigned to a device on a network, and it allows devices to find and communicate with each other. The examples in this article use only public documentation ranges reserved for teaching and illustration, plus the well-known private ranges used inside homes and offices. You will not find any real person’s address here, and this guide explains how to look up only your own device’s address, never anyone else’s.
That safety rule deserves emphasis before any technical detail. Your own device’s network settings are yours to inspect, and learning from them is an excellent way to understand networking. Another person’s address is not yours to seek out, collect or share, and there is no legitimate learning purpose that requires it. Every example below is either a reserved documentation address or a private-range address of the kind found on millions of home networks, so you can study the patterns freely without touching anyone’s personal information.
IP Examples of IPv4 Addresses
The most familiar kind of IP address is IPv4, which uses four groups of numbers separated by full stops. Each group, called an octet, ranges from 0 to 255, so an IPv4 address looks like four numbers in a row. The documentation ranges reserved specifically for examples are 192.0.2.0 to 192.0.2.255, 198.51.100.0 to 198.51.100.255, and 203.0.113.0 to 203.0.113.255. Teachers, textbook authors and exam boards use addresses such as 192.0.2.45, 198.51.100.27 and 203.0.113.199 precisely because these addresses will never belong to a real device on the public internet, so they are safe to print, memorise and practise with.
Seeing those ip examples side by side reveals the pattern at once: four octets, each between 0 and 255, with the first octet often giving a clue about the address block. An address such as 192.0.2.1 is structurally identical to a real public address, but because it sits inside a documentation range, it functions as a placeholder, like a sample phone number in a textbook. When you meet ip examples in study materials, check whether they fall inside these documentation ranges: if they do, the author has chosen them deliberately so that learners can focus on the format rather than worrying about whose address it might be.
IP Examples of Private Home Network Addresses
Inside homes and offices, devices use private addresses that are not reachable directly from the public internet. The three private IPv4 ranges are 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255, 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255, and 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255. Your home router typically hands out addresses from the last of these, which is why examples such as 192.168.1.10, 192.168.0.25 and 192.168.1.100 feel so familiar: they are the pattern, though not necessarily your exact addresses, used by millions of home networks around the world.
These ip examples of private addresses work because a router translates between the private network inside your home and the single public address your internet provider assigns to your connection. This arrangement, called network address translation, allows many devices to share one public address while each keeps its own private address indoors. Large organisations often use the 10.0.0.0 range instead, because it offers millions of addresses, while medium-sized networks may use the 172.16.0.0 range. The choice of range is a matter of scale and planning, not of quality: all three ranges serve the same purpose of keeping internal traffic internal.
IP Examples of Special and Reserved Addresses
Some ip examples have special jobs that make them worth knowing. The address 127.0.0.1 is called loopback, and it always refers to the device itself: software uses it to talk to services running on the same machine, which is invaluable for testing. The address 0.0.0.0 is used to mean “all addresses on this machine” or “no specific address” depending on context, and it appears frequently in server configuration. Broadcast addresses, such as 192.168.1.255 on a typical home network, send a message to every device on that local network at once.
These special addresses explain why not every combination of four numbers is available for ordinary use. Network designers reserved blocks for documentation, for private networks, for loopback, for multicast groups and for future use, leaving the remaining public ranges for assignment to internet providers and organisations. Understanding the reservations helps you read any list of ip examples with a critical eye: a sensible example will either sit in a documentation range or be clearly labelled as a private or special address, and an example that looks like a random public address should always raise a question about where it came from.
IP Examples of IPv6 Addresses
IPv6 is the newer, much larger addressing system designed to replace IPv4 as the internet grows. An IPv6 address uses eight groups of hexadecimal digits separated by colons, and it looks very different from its predecessor. The documentation range for IPv6 is 2001:db8::/32, so textbook examples such as 2001:db8:1:2::45, 2001:db8:abcd::1 and 2001:db8::99 are safe to study, print and practise with, just as the IPv4 documentation ranges are. The double colon is shorthand for a run of zero groups, which keeps long addresses readable.
These IPv6 ip examples show why the newer system is so plentiful that every device can in principle have its own globally unique address without the translation tricks that IPv4 requires. That abundance also changes how examples are written: you will see shortened forms, leading zeros omitted, and the double-colon compression used once per address. Learners sometimes find IPv6 intimidating at first, but the logic is the same as IPv4: an address identifies a device or network, a prefix length says how much of the address is the network part, and documentation examples let you practise the notation without touching a real address.
| Example | Type | What it illustrates |
|---|---|---|
| 192.0.2.45 | IPv4 documentation | A safe textbook example that never belongs to a real device |
| 198.51.100.27 | IPv4 documentation | A second reserved range used in teaching materials |
| 203.0.113.199 | IPv4 documentation | A third reserved range for examples and exams |
| 192.168.1.10 | IPv4 private | The pattern used by typical home networks |
| 10.0.0.55 | IPv4 private | A large private range used by big organisations |
| 172.16.5.20 | IPv4 private | A medium private range for office networks |
| 127.0.0.1 | IPv4 loopback | Always means the device itself |
| 2001:db8:abcd::1 | IPv6 documentation | A safe example in the reserved teaching range |
How to Check Your Own Device Address
The only address you should ever look up in this way is your own. On your own phone, tablet or computer, open the device’s own network or Wi-Fi settings and view the connection details for the network you are using: the device will display its own private address, its subnet mask and its gateway, which is usually your router. On your own computer, the operating system’s built-in network settings panel shows the same information without any additional software. These are your own settings, on your own device, and inspecting them is a normal part of learning how your home network works.
What you learn from your own settings is genuinely useful. The gateway address tells you where your router sits on your network, the subnet mask tells you how large your local network is, and the DNS server entries show which servers translate names into addresses for you. If you are studying for a networking qualification, comparing your own private address with the examples in this article will make abstract concepts concrete: you will see that your address follows exactly the same four-octet pattern, that it falls inside a private range, and that it differs from the documentation examples only in the range it belongs to. That comparison is the whole point of safe examples.
Subnet Masks and Prefixes in Plain English
Every IP address travels with a second piece of information that says where the network part ends and the device part begins. In IPv4 this is the subnet mask, such as 255.255.255.0, which in plain English means that the first three octets identify the network and the last octet identifies the device. In IPv6 and in modern IPv4 notation, the same idea is written as a prefix length, such as 192.0.2.0/24 or 2001:db8::/32, where the number after the slash counts the network bits.
A /24 network, for example, holds up to 254 usable device addresses, and textbook ip examples usually pair the address with its prefix for this reason, which suits a home or a small office, while a /16 network holds tens of thousands and suits a large organisation. This is why ip examples in textbooks so often appear with a slash and a number: the address alone does not define the network, and the prefix completes the picture. When you practise, always note the prefix alongside the address, because two identical addresses in different networks are different places, just as two houses with the same number on different streets are different homes.
Frequently Asked Questions About IP Address Examples
What are the safest ip examples to use in homework?
The safest ip examples are the documentation ranges: 192.0.2.0 to 192.0.2.255, 198.51.100.0 to 198.51.100.255 and 203.0.113.0 to 203.0.113.255 for IPv4, and 2001:db8::/32 for IPv6. These ranges are reserved for teaching and will never identify a real device.
Is 192.168.1.10 a real address?
It follows the private-address pattern used by home networks, but a private address is only meaningful inside its own network. The same private pattern appears in millions of homes, so it cannot identify a person or a household on its own.
Can I look up someone else’s IP address?
No. This guide covers only your own device’s settings, which you can inspect on your own phone or computer. Do not attempt to obtain, share or publish anyone else’s address.
Why do IPv6 addresses look so different?
IPv6 uses hexadecimal groups separated by colons and provides vastly more addresses than IPv4, so its notation is longer but more flexible. Documentation examples such as 2001:db8:abcd::1 let you practise the format safely.
Conclusion
IP addresses are simpler than they first appear once you study safe examples: four octets for IPv4, eight hexadecimal groups for IPv6, and reserved ranges that let learners practise without touching real devices. If you searched for “ip examples”, you now have a curated set you can trust, from the documentation ranges 192.0.2.x, 198.51.100.x and 203.0.113.x through the private patterns of home and office networks to the loopback address and IPv6 teaching range. Check only your own device’s settings, keep other people’s information out of your learning, and use these examples freely in study, revision and teaching. For related networking guides, see command to know the IP address in Linux, Debian static IP address and another name for network.
