Windows Server 2008 Tidbit #3,627

Feel free to mock me but I’m just a simple developer, your modern ways frighten and confuse me.

If you know me, I’m a command line junkie and I’m all for shortcut typing and trying to maximize the effort my fingers have to go through by typing less (no, this doesn't mean I use 3 character variable names). I’ll rarely type a full path when jumping around in a command prompt and use the tab key and “*” character quite aggressively.

In any case, nothing like stumbling over a goofy little thing in the middle of the night as I’m setting up a new VM. I was currently setting up a new virtual network for some MOSS development and going through the motions of creating a new 2008 server, creating a domain controller, adding IIS, lather, rinse, repeat. As I was setting up the DC (using an IPv4 of 10.0.0.1) I accidently typed this:

C:\Users\Administrator>ping 10.0.01

(rather than the full address of 10.0.0.1)

And surprisingly got this result:

Pinging 10.0.0.1 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 10.0.0.1: bytes=32 time=46ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Hey! Wait a minute. That’s not what I typed, I missed the last period (bet all your girlfriends say that?).

Curiosity got the better of me so I tried variations:

C:\Users\Administrator>ping 10.001

C:\Users\Administrator>ping 10.01

C:\Users\Administrator>ping 10.1

All getting the same result. So now rather than having to plug in those extra few digits I can happily type 10.1 over 10.0.0.1 when doing stuff like this.

Like I said, I may be slow on the uptake and most of the planet already knows this trick so go ahead and call me names. I’m just a simple developer, your modern ways frighten and confuse me.