NAME
    NetAddr::IP::Lite - Manages IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and subnets

SYNOPSIS
      use NetAddr::IP::Lite;

      my $ip = new NetAddr::IP::Lite '127.0.0.1';

      print "The address is ", $ip->addr, " with mask ", $ip->mask, "\n" ;

      if ($ip->within(new NetAddr::IP::Lite "127.0.0.0", "255.0.0.0")) {
          print "Is a loopback address\n";
      }

                                    # This prints 127.0.0.1/32
      print "You can also say $ip...\n";

INSTALLATION
    Un-tar the distribution in an appropriate directory and type:

            perl Makefile.PL
            make
            make test
            make install

    NetAddr::IP::Lite depends on NetAddr::IP::Util which installs by default
    with its primary functions compiled using Perl's XS extensions to build
    a 'C' library. If you do not have a 'C' complier available or would like
    the slower Pure Perl version for some other reason, then type:

            perl Makefile.PL -noxs
            make
            make test
            make install

DESCRIPTION
    This module provides an object-oriented abstraction on top of IP
    addresses or IP subnets, that allows for easy manipulations. Most of the
    operations of NetAddr::IP are supported. This module will work older
    versions of Perl and does not use Math::BigInt.

    The internal representation of all IP objects is in 128 bit IPv6
    notation. IPv4 and IPv6 objects may be freely mixed.

    The supported operations are described below:

  Overloaded Operators

    Assignment ("=")
        Has been optimized to copy one NetAddr::IP::Lite object to another
        very quickly.

    Stringification
        An object can be used just as a string. For instance, the following
        code

                my $ip = new NetAddr::IP::Lite '192.168.1.123';
                print "$ip\n";

        Will print the string 192.168.1.123/32.

    Equality
        You can test for equality with either "eq" or "==". "eq" allows the
        comparison with arbitrary strings as well as NetAddr::IP::Lite
        objects. The following example:

            if (NetAddr::IP::Lite->new('127.0.0.1','255.0.0.0') eq '127.0.0.1/8') 
               { print "Yes\n"; }

        Will print out "Yes".

        Comparison with "==" requires both operands to be NetAddr::IP::Lite
        objects.

        In both cases, a true value is returned if the CIDR representation
        of the operands is equal.

    Comparison via >, <, >=, <=, <=> and "cmp"
        Internally, all network objects are represented in 128 bit format.
        The numeric representation of the network is compared through the
        corresponding operation. The netmask is ignored for these
        comparisons, as there is no standard criteria to say wether 10/8 is
        larger than 10/10 or not.

    Addition of a constant
        Adding a constant to a NetAddr::IP::Lite object changes its address
        part to point to the one so many hosts above the start address. For
        instance, this code:

            print NetAddr::IP::Lite->new('127.0.0.1') + 5;

        will output 127.0.0.6/8. The address will wrap around at the
        broadcast back to the network address. This code:

            print NetAddr::IP::Lite->new('10.0.0.1/24') + 255;

        outputs 10.0.0.0/24.

    Substraction of a constant
        The complement of the addition of a constant.

    Auto-increment
        Auto-incrementing a NetAddr::IP::Lite object causes the address part
        to be adjusted to the next host address within the subnet. It will
        wrap at the broadcast address and start again from the network
        address.

    Auto-decrement
        Auto-decrementing a NetAddr::IP::Lite object performs exactly the
        opposite of auto-incrementing it, as you would expect.

  Methods

    "->new([$addr, [ $mask]])"
        This method creates a new address with the supplied address in
        "$addr" and an optional netmask "$mask", which can be omitted to get
        a /32 or /128 netmask for IPv4 / IPv6 addresses respectively

        "$addr" can be any of the following:

          n.n.n.n
          n.n.n.n/mm            32 bit cidr notation
          n.n.n.n/m.m.m.m

        Any RFC1884 notation

          ::n.n.n.n
          ::n.n.n.n/mmm         128 bit cidr notation
          ::n.n.n.n/::m.m.m.m
          ::x:x
          ::x:x/mmm
          x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x
          x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x/mmm
          x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x/m:m:m:m:m:m:m:m any RFC1884 notation

        If called with no arguments, 'default' is assumed.

    "->broadcast()"
        Returns a new object refering to the broadcast address of a given
        subnet. The broadcast address has all ones in all the bit positions
        where the netmask has zero bits. This is normally used to address
        all the hosts in a given subnet.

    "->network()"
        Returns a new object refering to the network address of a given
        subnet. A network address has all zero bits where the bits of the
        netmask are zero. Normally this is used to refer to a subnet.

    "->addr()"
        Returns a scalar with the address part of the object as an IPv4 or
        IPv6 text string as appropriate. This is useful for printing or for
        passing the address part of the NetAddr::IP::Lite object to other
        components that expect an IP address.

    "->mask()"
        Returns a scalar with the mask as an IPv4 or IPv6 text string as
        appropriate.

    "->masklen()"
        Returns a scalar the number of one bits in the mask.

    "->bits()"
        Returns the wide of the address in bits. Normally 32 for v4 and 128
        for v6.

    "->version()"
        Returns the version of the address or subnet. Currently this can be
        either 4 or 6.

    "->cidr()"
        Returns a scalar with the address and mask in CIDR notation. A
        NetAddr::IP::Lite object *stringifies* to the result of this
        function.

    "->aton()"
        Returns the address part of the NetAddr::IP::Lite object in the same
        format as the "inet_aton()" or "ipv6_aton" function respectively.

    "->range()"
        Returns a scalar with the base address and the broadcast address
        separated by a dash and spaces. This is called range notation.

    "->numeric()"
        When called in a scalar context, will return a numeric
        representation of the address part of the IP address. When called in
        an array contest, it returns a list of two elements. The first
        element is as described, the second element is the numeric
        representation of the netmask.

        This method is essential for serializing the representation of a
        subnet.

    "$me->contains($other)"
        Returns true when "$me" completely contains "$other". False is
        returned otherwise and "undef" is returned if "$me" and "$other" are
        not both "NetAddr::IP::Lite" objects.

    "$me->within($other)"
        The complement of "->contains()". Returns true when "$me" is
        completely contained within "$other", undef if "$me" and "$other"
        are not both "NetAddr::IP::Lite" objects.

    "->first()"
        Returns a new object representing the first useable IP address
        within the subnet (ie, the first host address).

    "->last()"
        Returns a new object representing the last useable IP address within
        the subnet (ie, one less than the broadcast address).

    "->nth($index)"
        Returns a new object representing the *n*-th useable IP address
        within the subnet (ie, the *n*-th host address). If no address is
        available (for example, when the network is too small for "$index"
        hosts), "undef" is returned.

    "->num()"
        Returns the number of useable IP addresses within the subnet, not
        counting the broadcast address.

  EXPORT

    None by default.

AUTHOR
    Luis E. Muoz <luismunoz@cpan.org> Michael Robinton
    <michael@bizsystems.com>

WARRANTY
    This software comes with the same warranty as perl itself (ie, none), so
    by using it you accept any and all the liability.

LICENSE
    This software is (c) Luis E. Muoz, 1999 - 2005, and (c) Michael
    Robinton, 2006. It can be used under the terms of the perl artistic
    license provided that proper credit for the work of the author is
    preserved in the form of this copyright notice and license for this
    module.

SEE ALSO
    perl(1), NetAddr::IP(3), NetAddr::IP::Util(3)

