// Make a first pass to categorize the characters in this string.
    boolean hasColon = false;
    boolean hasDot = false;
    int percentIndex = -1;
    for (int i = 0; i < ipString.length(); i++) {
      char c = ipString.charAt(i);
      if (c == '.') {
        hasDot = true;
      } else if (c == ':') {
        if (hasDot) {
          return null; // Colons must not appear after dots.
        }
        hasColon = true;