How to Find the IP Address for a Domain

Find the IP Address for a Domain

by | Apr 2, 2024 | Useful Tech

Need to look up the IP address for a domain name for security or troubleshooting? Want to find both the IPv4 and the IPv6 address to which a domain name resolves? Find out here how to find the IP address for a domain on Windows, Mac, Linux and the web.

First, a Dolphin’s Sound Is Buzzing

When a bottlenose dolphin wants to look with its nose more closely, like a bat it sends out higher and higher click sounds in more or more rapid a succession.

With some 1 000 clicks per second, that “buzzing” paints a very detailed map and picture of the dolphin’s immediate surroundings and lets it pinpoint prey, for instance.

Now, want to locate the IP address (or addresses) for a domain? Hum along:

How to Find the IP Address for a Domain

Using a Command-Line Tool on Windows, Mac and Linux

Time needed: 3 minutes

To find the IPv4 and IPv4 IP address for a domain on a Windows, Mac and Linux computer:

  1. Open the terminal or command line for your operating system.

    Mac: Open the Terminal app.
    Windows: Open PowerShell or Command Prompt in the Windows Start menu (you can press Windows R and run cmd to open command prompt).
    Linux: Open a terminal application.
    No terminal: See below for looking up the IP address for a domain using a web service.

  2. Enter the appropriate command for looking up a domain’s IP address.

    Windows: Type nslookup -q=A+AAAA <domain>.
    Mac and Linux: Type dig +short <domain> A <domain> AAAA.
    The domain: Replace <domain> with the domain whose IP address you want to look up.
    Versions of IP: This looks up both IPv4 and IPv6; not all domains have both addresses associated—see below for looking up just one or the other.
    Example: Use dig +short ladedu.com A ladedu.com AAAA to look up the IPv4 and IPv6 address for ladedu.com on a Mac.
    Look up a domain’s IP address using dig on a Mac

  3. Press Enter.

  4. Find the IP addresses listed as a result.

    IP: “IP” stands for “Internet Protocol” and defines how data is transferred across the network between hosts, which are identified with addresses, the IP addresses.
    IPv4: DNS A records list the (traditional) IPv4 address to which the domain name resolves; its format is [0-255].[0-255].[0-255].[0-255], e.g., 172.67.222.9.
    IPv6: The DNS AAAA (“Quad-A”) record is the equivalent to A records for IPv6 addresses to which the domain name can resolve as well; the format is the vastly longer [0x0000–0xFFFF]:[0x0000–0xFFFF]:[0x0000–0xFFFF]:[0x0000–0xFFFF]:[0x0000–0xFFFF]:[0x0000–0xFFFF]:[0x0000–0xFFFF]:[0x0000–0xFFFF] (eight segments of 16-bit values each ranging from 0 to hexadecimal FFFF (65535 in decimal), e.g., 2606:4700:3035:0000:0000:0000:AC43:DE09.
    Using nslookup to get the IP address for a domain on Windows 11

More in DNS for email security: How to Check the SPF Email Records on a Domain

Find the IP Address for a Domain on the Web

To establish the IP addresses for any domain using a browser:

  1. Visit NsLookup-io (or an alternative) in your favorite browser.
    Alternatives: Some other pages to look up IP addresses include MX Toolbox, DNS Checker and Whatsmydns.net.
  2. Look for A and AAAA records in the results.
    What it looks like: See above for the format of IP addresses.

How to Find the IP Address for a Domain: FAQ

What does “::” mean in an IPv6 address?

In an IPv6 address, 0000 can be omitted, the two colons remaining; a series of three colons can also be replaced with two.

Example: 2606:4700:3035:0000:0000:0000:AC43:DE09 is equivalent to 2606:4700:3035::AC43:DE09.

Can I look up both IPv4 and IPv6 with “dig” without repeating the domain?

Yes.

You can add the following function to your shell .rc file (such as ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc,) to add the digas command, which will return both A and AAAA records for a domain.

#!/bin/sh
#
# ladedu_digas.sh
#
# Looks up both A (IPv4) and AAAA (IPv6) records for a domain using dig.
#
# (c) Heinz Tschabitscher 2024
# https://ladedu.com/how-to-find-the-ip-address-for-a-domain/

digas() {
  if [ -z "$1" ]; then
    echo "Usage: digas <domain>"
  else
    dig +noall +answer A "$1" AAAA "$1"
  fi
}

The function is also available as the ladedu_digas.sh file, which you can include using the source command in your shell’s rc file.

Alternative: You can also use the digall shell script, of course.

Are there graphical DNS lookup tools?

Yes.

On Windows, you can try DNSDataView, for example.

(How to find the IP address for a domain tested with Windows 11 Version 22H2, macOS Sonoma 14.0 and Fedora Linux 38; updated October 2023)

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