Get The IP Address Of A Visitor Through PHP

I have talked previously about getting an IP address of a visitor with PHP. The failing in using the value of $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] is that if the visitor is using a proxy then you will get the proxy IP address and not the visitors real IP address.

This function works by going through any variables in the $_SERVER array that might exist that would contain information to do with IP addresses. If they are all empty then the function finally looks at $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] value and returns this as a default.

function getRealIpAddr(){


 if ( !empty($_SERVER['HTTP_CLIENT_IP']) ) {


  // Check IP from internet.


  $ip = $_SERVER['HTTP_CLIENT_IP'];


 } elseif (!empty($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']) ) {


  // Check IP is passed from proxy.


  $ip = $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'];


 } else {


  // Get IP address from remote address.


  $ip = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];


 }


 return $ip;


}

To run this function just call it.

echo getRealIpAddr();