[转帖]Difference between localhost and 127.0.0.1?

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/difference-between-localhost-and-127-0-0-1#:~:text=The%20most%20significant%20difference%20between,look%20up%20a%20table%20somewhere.

---

 

On almost every machine, the localhost and 127.0.0.1 are functionally the same. But, they are not exactly the same. This article is meant for explain the important differences between localhost and 127.0.01.

What is Localhost?

"localhost" is the machine name or IP address of the host server. You can think of it as the domain name for "127.0.0.1". The localhost allows a network connection to loop back on itself. It is a communication port that is connected to the local server. It helps us in spoofing the network connections when such a network does not exist. We tend to use localhost as the synonym for "127.0.0.1", however, in actual practice, they are not exactly the same.

When you type "localhost" in your browser's address bar, the browser looks up for its associated IP address. Note that "localhost" needn't always resolve to "127.0.0.1". It may redirect to another IP address within the loopback block of addresses.

What is 127.0.0.1?

The IP address 127.0.0.1 is one of the most commonly used loopback IP addresses. 127.0.0.1 is used specifically for loopback functionality. 127.0.0.1 is a part of a reserved block of more than sixteen million IP addresses. 127.0.0.1 is a private IP address that is used to connect with the same device on which the address was entered.

You will be using this IP address frequently while developing web applications because when you type "127.0.0.1" in the address bar of your browser, it will load the local web server's page. In addition, one can use 127.0.0.1 to access the network services running on the local machine.

Differences between Localhost and 127.0.0.1

The following table highlights all the important differences between localhost and 127.0.0.1 −

Localhost	127.0.0.1
In localhost, we need a lookup table.	There is no need of a lookup table.
The conversion of localhost into IP address requires a look up table.	The address 127.0.0.1 can be converted into an IP address directly with the help of intelligent software. In this, there is no need to do look up table at all.
The localhost is easy to remember.	It is hard to remember the IP address 127.0.0.1.
It is user-friendly in the sense that all you need to type is "http://localhost" in the address bar of your browser.	One needs to type "http://127.0.0.1" in the address bar of the browser, which is comparatively a little difficult to remember.
The localhost is slower as compared to 127.0.0.1.	The IP address 127.0.0.1 is faster

Conclusion

The most significant difference between localhost and 127.0.0.1 is that there is a need to have a lookup table in case of localhost, while in 127.0.0.1, we do not need to look up a table somewhere.