$test1 = quadToInt("192.168.11.5 <http://192.168.11.5/> ");    
   # $test1 would contain 3232238341.

##</code><code>##

# generate and return 32-bit integer representation of IP address
$IPaddr =~ s/\./0/g;   
my $rep32bit = pack('N', "$IPaddr"); # unsigned long in 'network order'