I have always needed to come up with things like IP masks, broadcast addresses. This command sure helps a lot.
Lets say you need the info on subnet 192.168.1.0 the command below will give it all to you. It will default to a 24 bit mask.
$ ipcalc 192.168.1.0 Address: 192.168.1.0 11000000.10101000.00000001. 00000000 Netmask: 255.255.255.0 = 24 11111111.11111111.11111111. 00000000 Wildcard: 0.0.0.255 00000000.00000000.00000000. 11111111 => Network: 192.168.1.0/24 11000000.10101000.00000001. 00000000 HostMin: 192.168.1.1 11000000.10101000.00000001. 00000001 HostMax: 192.168.1.254 11000000.10101000.00000001. 11111110 Broadcast: 192.168.1.255 11000000.10101000.00000001. 11111111 Hosts/Net: 254 Class C, Private Internet
If you want to use a 16 bit mask you need to explicitly enter it:
$ ipcalc 192.168.0.0/16 Address: 192.168.0.0 11000000.10101000. 00000000.00000000 Netmask: 255.255.0.0 = 16 11111111.11111111. 00000000.00000000 Wildcard: 0.0.255.255 00000000.00000000. 11111111.11111111 => Network: 192.168.0.0/16 11000000.10101000. 00000000.00000000 HostMin: 192.168.0.1 11000000.10101000. 00000000.00000001 HostMax: 192.168.255.254 11000000.10101000. 11111111.11111110 Broadcast: 192.168.255.255 11000000.10101000. 11111111.11111111 Hosts/Net: 65534 Class C, Private Internet