my %data;
foreach my $file (@file_list)
{
     open (INPUT, $file) || warn "Could not read $file\n";
     while (<INPUT>)
     {
          chomp;
          my ($start,$end,$name) = split (/,/);
          push (@{$data{$name}}, "$start,$end");
     }
     close (INPUT);
}

foreach (sort keys %data)
{
     print "@{$data{$_}},$_\n";
}
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use Socket;
my %data;

foreach my $file (@file_list)
{
     open (INPUT, $file) || warn "Could not read $file\n";
     while (<INPUT>)
     {
          chomp;
          my ($start,$end,$name) = split (/,/);
          $start = inet_aton($start);
          $end   = inet_aton($end);
          if (defined $data{$name}{$start})
          {
                 # Resolve conflict?
          }
          else
          {
                $data{$name}{$start} = $end;
          }
     }
     close (INPUT);
}

foreach my $name (sort keys %data)
{
     foreach my $start (sort keys %{$data{$name}})
     {
          print join (',',
                      inet_ntoa($start),
                      inet_ntoa($end),
                      $name),
                "\n";
     }
}
[download]

• Fixed inet_ntoa calls in first loop.

I tried your code and got this error at this line


 $start = inet_ntoa($start);
[download]

the error output is :
Bad arg length for Socket::inet_ntoa, length is 10, should be 4 at ipconsnew.pl line 16, <INPUT> line 1.

I am working on ActivePerl on Windows NT .. Am I doing anything wrong ??

Thanks tadman .. the functions are a revelation .. I may be able to work on them for the resolve conflict ..
actually, it's the algorithm I was looking for ..

# This function returns the 32-bit value
# of the IP address for numeric comparisons.
sub addr_value { return unpack("N", $_[0]); }

foreach my $name (sort keys %data)
{
     my $carry;

     foreach my $start (sort keys %{$data{$name}})
     {
           # Skip keys deleted after keys was calculated
           next unless defined $data{$name}{$start};

           # Add one to the end to determine the next start
           my $next_start = inet_aton(addr_value($end)+1);

           # If this block is adjacent to the next one...
           if (defined $data{$name}{$next_start})
           {
                 $carry ||= $start;

                 # ...end this block where that block ended...
                 $data{$name}{$carry} = $data{$name}{$next_start};
                 # ...and delete that block.
                 delete $data{$name}{$next_start};
           }
           else
           {
                 # No match, so reset the $carry
                 undef $carry;
           }
     }
}
[download]

This little program has all the elements needed. It will acculumate IP ranges by the id name and expand the range to include the min and max ip addresses. It does not check for holes between ranges in the same id which if the input data is sane is not needed.

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
my($start, $end, $id, %range);
while(<>)
{
  chop;
  ($start, $end, $id)=split(',');
  $start=pack("C4", (split('\.',$start)));
  $end=pack("C4", (split('\.',$end)));
  if($range{$id})
  {
    my($os, $oe)=@{$range{$id}};
    $os=$start if($start lt $os);
    $oe=$end if($end gt $oe);
        @{$range{$id}}=($os, $oe);
  }
  else
  {
        @{$range{$id}}=($start, $end);
  }
}

foreach my $r ( sort keys %range )
{
  printf "%vd,%vd,%s\n", @{$range{$r}},$r;
}
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The addresses and apparently v strings in general are strings so you have to use string comparison operators on them. But, due to the conversion, 10.20.30.40 is smaller than 10.20.30.100 which as normal strings would not be true. the %vd prints out dotted decimal %vb prints out a bit string %vX prints out an IPv6 address.

I think you need to give us some more detail on what you are trying to do - e.g. what makes line 2 a follow-on from from line 1?

What comparisons are you doing?

Clare

My apologies ..
The clarifications are thus :
1. IP Address file has the range of IP Addresses held by the name that appears in the same line.
2. I need to join adjacent ranges belonging to the same name; thus reducing the number of lines in the file.
3. In the first example, Line 2 follows Line 1 because 202.3.0.0 is the next IP Address after 202.2.255.255.
Similarly, if the "From" of one line is the next IP of the "TO" of the previous line, and the name is the same, the record needs to be replaced by the "From" of the first line, the "To" of the following line, and the common "Name"

Hope this helps