What can PyFunceble check — domains, IPs, or URLs?

Updated

PyFunceble checks all three: domains, IP addresses, and URLs. Its own description states it is "the tool to check the availability or syntax of domains, IP or URL." So if your target is a hostname, an IP address, or a full web address, it falls within the tool's stated scope. The two things it does for each are different questions — availability (is it reachable/registered?) and syntax (is it well-formed?) — and you should pick the check that matches what you actually want to know.

The three object types

Object type Example What "availability" means here What "syntax" means here
Domain example.com Whether the domain resolves/is registered rather than dead Whether the string is a valid domain format
IP address 192.0.2.1 Whether the address is reachable/active Whether the string is a valid IP format
URL https://example.com/page Whether the full address is live Whether the URL is correctly structured

The distinction matters because a domain can be syntactically valid but unavailable, and an IP can be reachable but written in an invalid format. Running the wrong check gives you a technically correct answer to a question you didn't ask.

Availability vs. syntax — which one do you need?

  • Use availability when you want to know if a resource is actually live or registered — for example, checking a list of domains before a migration to see which ones still respond.
  • Use syntax when you want to validate formatting — for example, cleaning a user-supplied list of URLs and rejecting the malformed ones before they hit another system.

These are separate checks, so decide first whether your goal is "does this work?" or "is this written correctly?"

Deciding if your target is supported

Ask two questions about your input:

  1. Is it one of the three types? A bare hostname, an IP address, or a full URL — yes. Something else, like an email address or a file path — not covered by the stated scope.
  2. Which property do you care about? Availability, syntax, or both. Run the corresponding check.

If your input is a domain, IP, or URL and you need either its availability or its syntax validated, PyFunceble's stated purpose covers it.

A note on the site itself

The PyFunceble site is a JavaScript app — its page content only renders once JavaScript is enabled, so a plain fetch of the page shows only the "enable JavaScript" notice. If you're evaluating the tool from the site, open it in a normal browser rather than scraping the raw HTML.