Packages and Binaries:
whatmask
Helper for network settings
This package contains a small C program that will help you with network
settings.
Whatmask can work in two modes.
The first mode is to invoke Whatmask with only a subnet mask as the argument.
In this mode Whatmask will echo back the subnet mask in four formats, plus the
number of useable addresses in the range.
The second mode is to invoke Whatmask with any ip address within the subnet,
followed by a slash (’/’), followed by the subnet mask in any format. Whatmask
will echo back the following:
- The netmask in the following formats: CIDR, Netmask, Netmask (Hex) Wildcard Bits
- The Network Address
- The Broadcast Address
- The number of Usable IP Addresses
- The First Usable IP Address
- The Last Usable IP Address
Installed size: 40 KB
How to install: sudo apt install whatmask
Dependencies:
- libc6
whatmask
Subnet mask notation conversion tool.
root@kali:~# man whatmask
Whatmask(1) Network Whatmask(1)
NAME
whatmask - Subnet mask notation conversion tool.
SYNTAX
whatmask <netmask or ip/netmask>
see the Examples section below
DESCRIPTION
Whatmask is a small C program that will help you with network settings.
Whatmask can work in two modes. The first mode is to invoke Whatmask with
only a subnet mask as the argument. In this mode Whatmask will echo back
the subnet mask in four formats, plus the number of useable addresses in
the range.
Netmask Notations supported:
Name Example
CIDR /24
Netmask 255.255.255.0
Netmask (hex) 0xffffff00
Wildcard Bits 0.0.0.255
The above notations are all identical. CIDR notation commonly has a "/"
in front of the number (representing the number of bits). Whatmask can
accept these notations with or without a slash. This notation is used more
and more recently. A lot of popular routers and software support this no-
tation.
Netmask notation is pretty much the standard old-school way of doing it.
It is supported by most systems (Un*x, Win, Mac, etc.).
Netmask (Hex) is the hexadecimal representation of the netmask. Many im-
plementations of ifconfig use this notation
Wildcard Bits are similar to the netmask, but they are the logical not of
the netmask. This notation is used by a number of popular routers (and no-
body knows why...).
To use Whatmask in the first mode simply type "whatmask <notation>" The
notation can be in any of the four formats and Whatmask will automagically
figure out what it is and display all four notations.
To use Whatmask in its second mode execute Whatmask with any ip address
within the subnet, followed by a slash ('/'), followed by the subnet mask
in any format. (e.g. 192.168.0.23/255.255.255.224, or 192.168.0.23/27) Put
no spaces in the argument.
Whatmask will echo back the following:
- The netmask in the following formats: CIDR, Netmask, Netmask (Hex),
Wildcard Bits
- The Network Address
- The Broadcast Address
- The number of Usable IP Addresses
- The First Usable IP Address
- The Last Usable IP Address
(Whatmask assumes that the Broadcast address is the highest address
in the subnet. This is the most common configuration.)
OPTIONS
<no options> see above and below for usage.
EXAMPLES
Examples of how Whatmask works:
myhost> whatmask /26
---------------------------------------------
TCP/IP SUBNET MASK EQUIVALENTS
---------------------------------------------
CIDR = .....................: /26
Netmask = ..................: 255.255.255.192
Netmask (hex) = ............: 0xffffffc0
Wildcard Bits = ............: 0.0.0.63
Usable IP Addresses = ......: 62
myhost> whatmask 255.255.192.0
---------------------------------------------
TCP/IP SUBNET MASK EQUIVALENTS
---------------------------------------------
CIDR = .....................: /18
Netmask = ..................: 255.255.192.0
Netmask (hex) = ............: 0xffffc000
Wildcard Bits = ............: 0.0.63.255
Usable IP Addresses = ......: 16,382
myhost> whatmask 0xffffffe0
---------------------------------------------
TCP/IP SUBNET MASK EQUIVALENTS
---------------------------------------------
CIDR = .....................: /27
Netmask = ..................: 255.255.255.224
Netmask (hex) = ............: 0xffffffe0
Wildcard Bits = ............: 0.0.0.31
Usable IP Addresses = ......: 30
myhost> whatmask 0.0.0.31
---------------------------------------------
TCP/IP SUBNET MASK EQUIVALENTS
---------------------------------------------
CIDR = .....................: /27
Netmask = ..................: 255.255.255.224
Netmask (hex) = ............: 0xffffffe0
Wildcard Bits = ............: 0.0.0.31
Usable IP Addresses = ......: 30
myhost> whatmask 192.168.165.23/19
------------------------------------------------
TCP/IP NETWORK INFORMATION
------------------------------------------------
IP Entered = ..................: 192.168.165.23
CIDR = ........................: /19
Netmask = .....................: 255.255.224.0
Netmask (hex) = ...............: 0xffffe000
Wildcard Bits = ...............: 0.0.31.255
------------------------------------------------
Network Address = .............: 192.168.160.0
Broadcast Address = ...........: 192.168.191.255
Usable IP Addresses = .........: 8,190
First Usable IP Address = .....: 192.168.160.1
Last Usable IP Address = ......: 192.168.191.254
myhost> whatmask 192.168.0.13/255.255.255.0
------------------------------------------------
TCP/IP NETWORK INFORMATION
------------------------------------------------
IP Entered = ..................: 192.168.0.13
CIDR = ........................: /24
Netmask = .....................: 255.255.255.0
Netmask (hex) = ...............: 0xffffff00
Wildcard Bits = ...............: 0.0.0.255
------------------------------------------------
Network Address = .............: 192.168.0.0
Broadcast Address = ...........: 192.168.0.255
Usable IP Addresses = .........: 254
First Usable IP Address = .....: 192.168.0.1
Last Usable IP Address = ......: 192.168.0.254
myhost> whatmask 192.168.0.113/0xffffffe0
------------------------------------------------
TCP/IP NETWORK INFORMATION
------------------------------------------------
IP Entered = ..................: 192.168.0.113
CIDR = ........................: /27
Netmask = .....................: 255.255.255.224
Netmask (hex) = ...............: 0xffffffe0
Wildcard Bits = ...............: 0.0.0.31
------------------------------------------------
Network Address = .............: 192.168.0.96
Broadcast Address = ...........: 192.168.0.127
Usable IP Addresses = .........: 30
First Usable IP Address = .....: 192.168.0.97
Last Usable IP Address = ......: 192.168.0.126
myhost> whatmask 192.168.0.169/0.0.0.127
------------------------------------------------
TCP/IP NETWORK INFORMATION
------------------------------------------------
IP Entered = ..................: 192.168.0.169
CIDR = ........................: /25
Netmask = .....................: 255.255.255.128
Netmask (hex) = ...............: 0xffffff80
Wildcard Bits = ...............: 0.0.0.127
------------------------------------------------
Network Address = .............: 192.168.0.128
Broadcast Address = ...........: 192.168.0.255
Usable IP Addresses = .........: 126
First Usable IP Address = .....: 192.168.0.129
Last Usable IP Address = ......: 192.168.0.254
BUGS
Report bugs to <[email protected]>
CONTRIBUTORS
Original code:
Joe Laffey <[email protected]>
Assistance with Manpage and Packaging:
David Wirch <[email protected]>
Many thanks to the beta testers and users who sent in valuable feedback!
UPDATES
Official Whatmask website:
http://www.laffeycomputer.com/whatmask.html
LAFFEY Computer Imaging Nov 14, 2003 Whatmask(1)
Updated on: 2026-May-25