When you buy through affiliate links in our content, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn What Does Dotted Quad Mean?
A dotted quad is a decimal representation
of an IPv4 address that is human readable. It is represented in the form xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.
The number in each quad represents one byte in a 32-bit address. Each quad
ranges from 0 to 255. For example, 192.168.0.1 would be an example of a dotted
quad.
A dotted quad is also known as a dotted decimal or dot address.
Techopedia Explains Dotted Quad
IPv4 addresses are represented in groups of four decimals separated by dots, or a dotted quad. This is easier for people to read than representing IP addresses in hexadecimal or binary. All the quads represent a one part of a 32-bit IP address. Each quad is eight bits, ranging between 0 and 255, with 255 serving as a broadcast address. Subnet masks can also be represented using decimal notation, though typically only the first two or three quads are used, depending on the length of the mask
An example of a dotted quad would be 192.168.0.107. The 192.168.0 prefix is a typical reserved IP address range given by many Wi-Fi routers. The subnet mask for this address is 255.255.255 because the first three quads are reserved.
Even though IPv4 addresses have been exhausted, IPv4 addresses are still very common and IPv6, which uses hexadecimal addresses, has been slow to achieve support from ISPs. Domain names are even easier for people to use than IP addresses.
