in6_pton(9)

💖 in6_pton(9) 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to the in6_pton(9) page from the Kernel API Manual — yes it's a section 9 kernel thing, and yes it is lowkey iconic. This is the one that takes your cute little IPv6 address as a string and turns it into the raw binary glow-up. ✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

in6_pton — convert an IPv6 address from literal to binary representation

Like, string in, bytes out. That's the whole vibe. 🦋

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

int in6_pton (const char *src , int srclen , u8 *dst , int delim , const char **end );

that's the whole signature, no cap — copy it exactly, don't be out here renaming things 💅

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• src — the start of the IPv6 address string. the beginning of the whole situation fr fr 📍
• srclen — the length of the string, and -1 means strlen(src). so like, if you're too lazy to count, just pass -1 and let it do the math for you 🧮
• dst — the binary (u8[16] array) representation of the IPv6 address. this is where the parsed bytes get dropped off — a 16-element u8 array, exactly that size, no thoughts head empty 🌈
• delim — the delimiter of the IPv6 address in src, and -1 means no delimiter. so if your address is chillin' inside a bigger string, this tells it where to stop 🛑
• end — A pointer to the end of the parsed string will be placed here. so afterwards, *end points at where parsing wrapped up 🫶

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👑 DESCRIPTION 👑

Return one on success, return zero when any error occurs and end will point to the end of the parsed string. 💀

that's it, that's the contract — 1 = slay, 0 = something went wrong 😭. and either way, end gets set to the end of the parsed string, so you always know where you landed. main character behaviour honestly.

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

• Kernel file ./net/core/utils.c — that's where this lives, go read it bestie 📖
• in4_pton(9)
• inet_pton_with_scope(9)
• inet_proto_csum_replace16(9)

all of these are your friends, go say hi 🫶

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and that's the page!! brought to you by ./net/core, version dated October 2026, page in6_pton(9) — mwah, go parse some addresses, ily bye 💜🧚‍♀️