---
layout: default
title: The Host component
description: The Host class represents a generic host component.
---

The Host
=======

The `Host` class represents a generic host component. Apart from the [package common API](/components/7.0/) the class
exposes basic properties and method to manipulate any type of host whether it is a registered name or an IP address.

<p class="message-notice">If the modifications do not change the current object, it is returned as is, otherwise, a new modified object is returned.</p>
<p class="message-warning">If the submitted value is not valid a <code>League\Uri\Exceptions\SyntaxError</code> exception is thrown.</p>

## Host Types

If you don't have an IP then you are dealing with a registered name. A registered name can be a [domain name](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1034) subset
if it follows [RFC1123](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1123#section-2.1), but it is not a requirement as stated in [RFC3986](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986#section-3.2.2)

> (...) URI producers should use names that conform to the DNS syntax, even when use of DNS is not immediately apparent, and should limit these names to no more than 255 characters in length.

As such to expose the correct type, the `Host` object uses 3 methods `isRegisteredName`, `isDomain` and `isIp`.

~~~php
$domain = Host::new('www.example.co.uk');
$domain->isRegisteredName();  //return true
$domain->isDomain();          //return true
$domain->isIp();              //return false

$ipAddress = Host::new('127.0.0.1');
$ipAddress->isRegisteredName();  //return false
$ipAddress->isDomain();          //return false
$ipAddress->isIp();              //return true

$registeredName = Host::new('...test.com');
$registeredName->isRegisteredName();  //return true
$registeredName->isDomain();          //return false
$registeredName->isIp();              //return false
~~~

## Normalization

Whenever you create a new host your submitted data is normalized using non-destructive operations:

- the host is lower-cased;
- the host is converted to its ascii representation;

~~~php
echo Host::new('ShOp.ExAmPle.COM')->value(); //display 'shop.example.com'
echo Host::fromUri('https://BéBé.be')->toString(); //display 'xn--bb-bjab.be'
~~~

<p class="message-warning">The last example depends on the presence of the <code>ext-intl</code> extension, otherwise the code will trigger a <code>MissingFeature</code> exception</p>

At any given time you can access the ascii or unicode Host representation using the two (2) following methods:

~~~php
$host = Host::new('BéBé.be');
echo $host; //display 'xn--bb-bjab.be'
echo $host->toUnicode();  //displays bébé.be
echo $host->toAscii();    //displays 'xn--bb-bjab.be'
~~~

## Host as IP Address

~~~php
public static Host::fromIp(string $ip, string $version = ''): self
public Host::isIpv4(): bool
public Host::isIpv6(): bool
public Host::isIpFuture(): bool
public Host::hasZoneIdentifier(): bool
public Host::withoutZoneIdentifier(): self
~~~

### Instantiation

This method allows creating a Host object from an IP.

~~~php
$ipv4 = Host::fromIp('127.0.0.1');
echo $ipv4; //display '127.0.0.1'

$ipv6 = Host::fromIp('::1');
echo $ipv6; //display '[::1]'

Host::fromIp('uri.thephpleague.com');
//throws League\Uri\Exceptions\SyntaxError
~~~

The method can also infer the IPv4 from its hexadecimal or octal representation. Behind the scene This normalization
works using WHATWG IPv4 host parsing rules via the `League\Uri\Ipv4\Converter` class

<p class="message-warning">A <code>RuntimeException</code> will be trigger if the conversion can not be done due to a lack of supported PHP extension.</p>

~~~php
echo Host::fromIp('999999999'); //display '59.154.201.255'
//will work on supported platform 
~~~

<p class="message-warning">This normalization is destructive and thus is never apply internally on a instantiated <code>Host</code> object.</p>

### IPv4 or IPv6

There are two (2) types of host:

- Hosts represented by an IP;
- Hosts represented by a registered name;

To determine what type of host you are dealing with the `Host` class provides the `isIp` method:

~~~php
$host = Host::new('example.com');
$host->isIp(); //return false;
$ip_host = Host::new('127.0.0.1');
$ip_host->isIp(); //return true;
~~~

Knowing that you are dealing with an IP is good, knowing its version is better.

~~~php
$ipv6 = Host::fromIp('::1');
$ipv6->isIp();         //return true
$ipv6->isIpv4();       //return false
$ipv6->isIpv6();       //return true
$ipv6->isIpFuture();   //return false
$ipv6->getIpVersion(); //return '6'

$ipv4 = Host::new('127.0.0.1');
$ipv4->isIp();         //return true
$ipv4->isIpv4();       //return true
$ipv4->isIpv6();       //return false
$ipv4->isIpFuture();   //return false
$ipv4->getIpVersion(); //return '4'

$ipfuture = Host::new('v32.1.2.3.4');
$ipfuture->isIp();         //return true
$ipfuture->isIpv4();       //return false
$ipfuture->isIpv6();       //return false
$ipfuture->isIpFuture();   //return true
$ipfuture->getIpVersion(); //return '32'

$domain = Host::new('thephpleague.com'):
$domain->isIp();         //return false
$domain->isIpv4();       //return false
$domain->isIpv6();       //return false
$domain->isIpFuture();   //return false
$domain->getIpVersion(); //return null
~~~

### Zone Identifier

#### Detection

The object can also detect if the IPv6 has a zone identifier or not. This can be handy if you want to know if you need to remove it or not for security reason.

~~~php
$ipv6 = Host::new('[Fe80::4432:34d6:e6e6:b122%eth0-1]');
$ipv6->hasZoneIdentifier(); //return true

$ipv4 = Host::new('127.0.0.1');
$ipv4->hasZoneIdentifier(); //return false
~~~

#### Removal

According to [RFC6874](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6874#section-4):

> You **must** remove any ZoneID attached to an outgoing URI, as it has only local significance at the sending host.

To fulfill this requirement, the `Host::withoutZoneIdentifier` method is provided. The method takes not parameter and return a new host instance without its zone identifier. If the host has not zone identifier, the current instance is returned unchanged.

~~~php
$host    = Host::new('[fe80::1%25eth0-1]');
$newHost = $host->withoutZoneIdentifier();
echo $newHost; //displays '[fe80::1]';
~~~

#### String Representation

You can retrieve the IP string representation from the Host object using the `getIp` method. If the Host is not an IP `null` will be returned instead.

~~~php
$host = Host::new('[fe80::1%25eth0-1]');
$host->getIp(); //returns 'fe80::1%eth0-1'

$newHost = Host::new('uri.thephpleague.com');
$newHost->getIp();        //returns null
$newHost->getIpVersion(); //returns null
~~~
