In this article, I’ll show how to get the IP address of the user. I’ll share three ways. Let’s start:

Method 1

We can easily get the IP address of a user using REMOTE_ADDR:

echo 'IP - '.$_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];

Sometimes this method doesn’t give correct IP.

Method 2

Using this method, we’re able to take user real IP address. Here’s the code:

function get_ip_address() {
    if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_CLIENT_IP']))
        $ipaddress = $_SERVER['HTTP_CLIENT_IP'];
    else if(isset($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']))
        $ipaddress = $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'];
    else if(isset($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED']))
        $ipaddress = $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED'];
    else if(isset($_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED_FOR']))
        $ipaddress = $_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED_FOR'];
    else if(isset($_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED']))
        $ipaddress = $_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED'];
    else if(isset($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']))
        $ipaddress = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
    else
        $ipaddress = 'Unknown';
    return $ipaddress;
}

echo get_ip_address();

Method 3

By using this way we can get the IP address and can check IP address is valid or not. I like this method:

// user ip
function get_ip_address() {
    // check for shared internet/ISP IP
    if (!empty($_SERVER['HTTP_CLIENT_IP']) && validate_ip($_SERVER['HTTP_CLIENT_IP'])) {
        return $_SERVER['HTTP_CLIENT_IP'];
    }

    // check for IPs passing through proxies
    if (!empty($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'])) {
        // check if multiple ips exist in var
        if (strpos($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'], ',') !== false) {
            $iplist = explode(',', $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']);
            foreach ($iplist as $ip) {
                if (validate_ip($ip))
                    return $ip;
            }
        } else {
            if (validate_ip($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']))
                return $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'];
        }
    }
    if (!empty($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED']) && validate_ip($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED']))
        return $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED'];
    if (!empty($_SERVER['HTTP_X_CLUSTER_CLIENT_IP']) && validate_ip($_SERVER['HTTP_X_CLUSTER_CLIENT_IP']))
        return $_SERVER['HTTP_X_CLUSTER_CLIENT_IP'];
    if (!empty($_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED_FOR']) && validate_ip($_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED_FOR']))
        return $_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED_FOR'];
    if (!empty($_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED']) && validate_ip($_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED']))
        return $_SERVER['HTTP_FORWARDED'];

    // return unreliable ip since all else failed
    return $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
}

/**
 * Ensures an ip address is both a valid IP and does not fall within
 * a private network range.
 */
function validate_ip($ip) {
    if (strtolower($ip) === 'unknown')
        return false;

    // generate ipv4 network address
    $ip = ip2long($ip);

    // if the ip is set and not equivalent to 255.255.255.255
    if ($ip !== false && $ip !== -1) {
        // make sure to get unsigned long representation of ip
        // due to discrepancies between 32 and 64 bit OSes and
        // signed numbers (ints default to signed in PHP)
        $ip = sprintf('%u', $ip);
        // do private network range checking
        if ($ip >= 0 && $ip <= 50331647) return false;
        if ($ip >= 167772160 && $ip <= 184549375) return false;
        if ($ip >= 2130706432 && $ip <= 2147483647) return false;
        if ($ip >= 2851995648 && $ip <= 2852061183) return false;
        if ($ip >= 2886729728 && $ip <= 2887778303) return false;
        if ($ip >= 3221225984 && $ip <= 3221226239) return false;
        if ($ip >= 3232235520 && $ip <= 3232301055) return false;
        if ($ip >= 4294967040) return false;
    }
    return true;
}

echo get_ip_address();