49.12.188.0/23

IP address ranges, or netblocks, are groups of related IP addresses. They are usually represented as a base IP address, followed by a slash, and then a netmask which represents how many IP addresses are contained within the netblock. This format is known as CIDR. You'll also sometimes see netblocks given as a start ip address, and an end ip address, or an ip address range.

Traffic works its way around the internet based on the routing table, which contains a list of networks and their associated netblocks.