Find out if a string is an IP address or host name

[Xx r3negade]

I'm making a C++ wrapper for the standard C BSD sockets. In my object's "connect" function, I have a "host string" that can be either a host name or an ip address. Is there any C function, or any method, of determining if the string follows IP addressing format. I do *not* want to use any regex library or anything of that sort, as it adds unneeded bloat and complication. However, string parsing is nasty in C / C++ and I'd rather not write my own implementation either.

[gpraghuram]

You can parse the string to see if it contains only numbers and . then it is an IP address.
else it should be a host name.
What i am suggesting is a very crude way of doing this

Raghu

[sicarie]

Did you look at what libraries have been created to take and manipulate IP addresses?