# The strangest URL I've ever seen.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-strangest-url-ive-ever-seen/19998>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 19, 2000, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-strangest-url-ive-ever-seen/19998 "2000-05-19T20:00:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2000, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-strangest-url-ive-ever-seen/19998/1 "2000-05-19T20:00:34Z")

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I got this URL today in a piece of junk e-mail:

[http://3637331613/](http://3637331613/)

Strangely, it worked! This is not an IP address (no periods) and it is not the standard DNS type. What is this? A third way of recognizing a site?

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**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2000, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-strangest-url-ive-ever-seen/19998/2 "2000-05-19T20:43:18Z")

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It **is** an IP address, just in a different form. IP addresses are actually stored in hexadecimal. Convert your number to hex and you get the internal IP address, D8CD469D. The digits A through F are used for the base ten number 10-15.

Now put the periods in between each pair of digits: D8.CD.46.9D.

Now convert each pair of digts to base ten and you get 216.205.70.157, the form of the IP address you usually see. This form is used so as not to confuse people unfamiliar with hexadecimal, to make it easier to remember, and to help tech types convert it back to hex easily when necessary.

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**Author:** ![JonF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JonF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonF)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2000, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-strangest-url-ive-ever-seen/19998/3 "2000-05-19T21:04:25Z")

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That is wierd.

It resolves to 216.205.70.157 and I get a host name of [157-216.205.70.interliant.com](http://157-216.205.70.interliant.com)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![billehunt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@billehunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billehunt)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2000, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-strangest-url-ive-ever-seen/19998/4 "2000-05-19T21:23:22Z")

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Can’t think of a real-world value for it, but still neat. It looks like Win 98 dos utils like ping accept the decimal versions as well.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![billehunt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@billehunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billehunt)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2000, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-strangest-url-ive-ever-seen/19998/5 "2000-05-19T21:29:09Z")

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It turns out, you can enter numbers in standard C hex or oct format as well.

For the site from the OP, you can also enter:

0xd8cd469d (hex)  
033063243235 (oct)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2000, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-strangest-url-ive-ever-seen/19998/6 "2000-05-20T00:22:16Z")

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Wow. Very interesting information. Thank you.

Now does anyone have any idea why they would take the trouble to give the URL this way?

And why bother to code a web browser to accept it?