An IP address, short for Internet Protocol address, is a numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two main functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing.
There are two main types of IP addresses: IPv4 and IPv6. IPv4 addresses are 32-bit numbers, while IPv6 addresses are 128-bit numbers. IPv4 addresses are typically written in the form of four octets, each of which can range from 0 to 255. IPv6 addresses are typically written in the form of eight hexadecimal numbers, each of which can range from 0 to FFFF.