diff --git a/lib/in46_addr.c b/lib/in46_addr.c
index 8f5cc09..4e7cbcd 100644
--- a/lib/in46_addr.c
+++ b/lib/in46_addr.c
@@ -69,6 +69,16 @@
 	return inet_ntop(af, (const void *) &in->v4, dst, dst_size);
 }
 
+/* like inet_ntoa() */
+const char *in46a_ntoa(const struct in46_addr *in46)
+{
+	static char addrstr_buf[256];
+	if (in46a_ntop(in46, addrstr_buf, sizeof(addrstr_buf)) < 0)
+		return "INVALID";
+	else
+		return addrstr_buf;
+}
+
 /*! Determine if two in46_addr are equal or not
  *  \returns 1 in case they are equal; 0 otherwise */
 int in46a_equal(const struct in46_addr *a, const struct in46_addr *b)
diff --git a/lib/in46_addr.h b/lib/in46_addr.h
index 0afd2b4..1614c1d 100644
--- a/lib/in46_addr.h
+++ b/lib/in46_addr.h
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 extern int in46a_to_af(const struct in46_addr *in);
 extern int in46a_to_sas(struct sockaddr_storage *out, const struct in46_addr *in);
 extern const char *in46a_ntop(const struct in46_addr *in, char *dst, socklen_t dst_size);
+extern const char *in46a_ntoa(const struct in46_addr *in46);
 extern int in46a_equal(const struct in46_addr *a, const struct in46_addr *b);
 extern int in46a_prefix_equal(const struct in46_addr *a, const struct in46_addr *b);
 extern int in46a_within_mask(const struct in46_addr *addr, const struct in46_addr *net, size_t prefixlen);